Are good software engineering practices sometimes at odds with job security? /u/Ok-Process-2187 CSCQ protests reddit

For example, avoiding tribal knowledge. You want all important details to be written somewhere so that no one needs to ask you.

Automated tests, so that if someone breaks your code, they’ll know where and why it broke without you having to tell them.

I had always assumed that making yourself unessential was a good thing because then it frees you up to work on bigger goals.

But in practice, this is not what I’ve seen. What I’ve seen in practice is that all managers really care about is how easy you are to replace.

From personal anecdote I’ve seen older software engineers seem to understand this better and aren’t as eager to make themselves redundant.

For example, avoiding tribal knowledge. You want all important details to be written somewhere so that no one needs to ask you.

Automated tests, so that if someone breaks your code, they’ll know where and why it broke without you having to tell them.

I had always assumed that making yourself unessential was a good thing because then it frees you up to work on bigger goals.

But in practice, this is not what I’ve seen. What I’ve seen in practice is that all managers really care about is how easy you are to replace.

From personal anecdote I’ve seen older software engineers seem to understand this better and aren’t as eager to make themselves redundant.