I've been working for a while now on a project at work that combines the efforts of multiple developers on a whole new scale. Since I changed jobs a few years ago, it's been bittersweet; I know good and well that it's the nature of the beast that new employees will tend to crucify those who came before. I don't think it's evil or even conscious, but something about taking over someone's old duties makes it inevitable.
Typically, those being crucified have left the company for greener pastures, so their crucifixion takes place out of earshot. But since I broke the seal on the idea of a developer moving in any direction here except to a new company, I was the first to bear witness to their own departure.
I think when you do anything for 6 years, you're bound to gain some quirky insights. Maybe particularly since I operate from my gut with a lot of this stuff, I don't always find it easy to verbalize exactly why I would do something in the exact strange way I would; but more likely than not, I tried it once, long ago, and it was imperfect in some fashion. Knowing the technology is only part of the puzzle; figuring out the quirks and shortcomings of your target humans is just as important.
Because, as a rule, people are sloppy and imprecise. People are colloquial. People are erratic. People are forgetful, and forget that they're forgetful.
I think some of those who took the reins after I departed are now starting to get a feel for the uniquely horrible parts of this job. And I know I don't know everything, but it is more of a relief than I expected to see someone's face when something clicks and they shift from "Adam's methods are short-bus special," to, "Ohhhhhhhhh, I get it."
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