Programmers who go off script

drbitboy said:

The comic strip B.C. had one: "I made an improvement to the square wheel: it's the triangular wheel; the improvement is that it eliminates one bump."

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But, 3 LARGER, more body shaking, bumps.

Fourpaw said:

- refuses to create an array in size that is anything less than 500.

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not a bad idea. nothing worse than getting in someone elses logic to make additions and they used the minimal array size and you have to create a new array to continue on with the same process.

diat150 said:

not a bad idea. nothing worse than getting in someone elses logic to make additions and they used the minimal array size and you have to create a new array to continue on with the same process.

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Even on my home planet our calendar doesn't have 500 months or weeks, and out year is only 324 days long. And 32 'hours' a day,and 100 'minutes'.


500 seems a weird and useless minimum.


I do, however, make sure my arrays have extra J.I.C., not 480 extra though.

diat150 said:

not a bad idea. nothing worse than getting in someone elses logic to make additions and they used the minimal array size and you have to create a new array to continue on with the same process.

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And it's always the F file too...

What is this guy like personality-wise? Narcisisstic know-it-all....doesn't play well with others?

ceilingwalker said:

What is this guy like personality-wise? Narcisisstic know-it-all....doesn't play well with others?

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Bingo. Yes. Despised by all, yet untouchable. It's just two of us in our department, I've been here 15 years, he's been here 3. We have blanket management that oversees "us" but doesn't understand what's happening behind the scenes, nor will they commit to having a Senior designate. I'm all for collaboration, creativity and innovation, but under certain parameters, and certainly with a mind for standardization whenever the opportunity is there (including code that was established long before we both arrived). What I lose sleep over the most is that I fear the next generation of controls engineers coming in, looking at the work we left behind and thinking "what a bunch of idiots they were." Anyway, I'm handcuffed. He doesn't care and management is happy enough just to see the job get done. meanwhile troubleshooting time goes through the roof and Electricians, Millwrights, Process Eng's, Operators all complain about the guy on a daily basis but nothing ever changes. I've gone back and forth to management so many times and hate to knit-pick - but we really need "some" restraints in place. He just keeps blasting incomplete drawings, random components and rogue unconventional logic out of his "***" and we all have to deal with it, it seems. It's become the wild west and he's the lone ranger? Sad but true. Plus he talks to himself all day.

Good thing this guy knows it all so would never need to come on PLCS.Net (ha ha), or he's in for a surprise and now knows your view of him, if management doesn't care, l would guess he will ratchet up what he is doing to **** you off even more.

Perhaps the real question is what is it about the craft of programming that attracts that type of personality? And what did people with that personality do for a living before there was such a thing as programming? The rogue draftsman I mentioned in post #32 was an example but I've known a lot of draftsmen and I don't recall enough of them with that attitude to stereotype the entire population.

Fourpaw said:

Bingo. Yes. Despised by all, yet untouchable. ......Plus he talks to himself all day.

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Wait, i thought talking to yourself was a sign of Genius...


I may need to check myself in...


Jokes aside, i think the only way to get managements attention is to either quantify the lost production due to these bad habits, or to find a new job... not sure that is good reasoning but you need to keep some consistency for both of you to understand what is going on...


Rather than fight, have you asked him to explain why he does these things?

To the OP, I feel your pain. I have a colleague who i used to butt heads with regularly years ago when i was in a different division of the company. He would always try and cut costs, do things on the cheap and his projects would always be stuff ups. The big cheeses knew he was useless so i would always get the hard projects or the high profile ones because they knew the risk of disaster was less.

I eventually asked to be removed from this team and fully allocated to another team. He was not open to new thinking, and was stubborn as a mule even when i tried to explain nicely.

I've just come across some of his work, 5 years later. New panel that looks like it's 15 years old already... it was installed 3 months ago. Nothing has changed and the management still haven't dealt with it.

Moral of the story... if you can't put this guy straight in 6 months, and management continue to take the blind, deaf and dumb approach... for your own sanity, start looking for a new job. It's not worth dreading coming into work every day.

On the flip side I have a colleague that has 30+ years in controls. I have yet to see this person stumped by a project or ask anyone for any type of assistance as he has it covered. The coolest thing is he is open to whatever type of approach I may have to something and works with me instead of against me. If I have an off the reservation project going, he reigns me in using what I have instead of a complete rewrite. Being a newer engineer having someone like this is invaluable. Not all of us are ***holes.

77nomad said:

Not all of us are ***holes.

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Give it a few years.

You will join the rest of us and become one. Took me about 8 years I think...

I_Automation said:

Give it a few years.

You will join the rest of us and become one. Took me about 8 years I think...

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20+ years in maintenance guaranteed me that title.

Fourpaw said:

... meanwhile troubleshooting time goes through the roof and Electricians, Millwrights, Process Eng's, Operators all complain about the guy on a daily basis but nothing ever changes....

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Have these allies complained to your manager? If not, ask them to do so. If they have, and nothing is done, then you have two viable choices.

1) Suck it up, live your life, do your job professionally, and wait for karma to kick in (if it does)

2) Look for other opportunities.

Tom Jenkins said:

Have these allies complained to your manager? If not, ask them to do so. If they have, and nothing is done, then you have two viable choices.

1) Suck it up, live your life, do your job professionally, and wait for karma to kick in (if it does)

2) Look for other opportunities.

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To add to this, I don't think anyone should have to look in the code.

If you can't look at an HMI and see exactly why something wont start (interlocks). If it starts and then stops it better have an alarm associated with why it stopped (unless someone pressed the stop button).