I just got my job a few weeks ago. I was hired not to
program but basically do db maintenance (well, db
maintenance is close enough) Even though the company has
started to notice my potential, I am not tasked to program
yet due to the amount of work that we have for my current
position.

The company has a few VB apps which have been converted to
web apps (still working on 'em as we speak). All are full
of bugs due to bad design & coding. We have deadlines for
both clients and potential clients.

The programmers on the project don't really have any
standard coding practices at all and are not capable of
designing well rounded apps (in my humble opion). They've
gotten to the point where they are afraid to make
modifications.

While I can identify the problems, I could not make any
modifications. I still am learning about the business
logic and have minimum exposures to the code. If I take
over the coding, it would take me a while to fix up the
problems. If we let the programmers do it, I would have
to shed some lights on basic things like naming
convention, code formatting, UI design, input
validation ... Either way, it will take time and time is
a luxury that we dont have at the moment.

How should I approach the president of the company to
convince him that we really need spend some time (and
money) to go back, clean things up and rebuild the
foundation given the fact that even though the wheel is
not rounded, it is turning and can't afford to be stopped?

Many thanks

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It really does amaze me the time, money and effort that it wasted in
IT. Companies never have enough time to do it right, but always have
time to do it all over again!

My advice would be to present your finding in a formal report together
with the implications of your findings and solutions to the
problem(s). If you can, try and calculate how much it is costing the
company through these lack of practices. Check out some of the web
sites on software and system engineering to use as a reference to back
your findings up with.

However getting things changed is another matter! Most problems are
people related (i.e. incompetence, lack of skills etc), so getting
changes of this type through, would be tough.

You should be commended on your approach and I hope you make a
successful career in IT for yourself.


On Thu, 27 Feb 2003 01:41:09 -0800, "Gia Dich" <bdao@ixpres.com>
wrote:

>I just got my job a few weeks ago. I was hired not to
>program but basically do db maintenance (well, db
>maintenance is close enough) Even though the company has
>started to notice my potential, I am not tasked to program
>yet due to the amount of work that we have for my current
>position.
>
>The company has a few VB apps which have been converted to
>web apps (still working on 'em as we speak). All are full
>of bugs due to bad design & coding. We have deadlines for
>both clients and potential clients.
>
>The programmers on the project don't really have any
>standard coding practices at all and are not capable of
>designing well rounded apps (in my humble opion). They've
>gotten to the point where they are afraid to make
>modifications.
>
>While I can identify the problems, I could not make any
>modifications. I still am learning about the business
>logic and have minimum exposures to the code. If I take
>over the coding, it would take me a while to fix up the
>problems. If we let the programmers do it, I would have
>to shed some lights on basic things like naming
>convention, code formatting, UI design, input
>validation ... Either way, it will take time and time is
>a luxury that we dont have at the moment.
>
>How should I approach the president of the company to
>convince him that we really need spend some time (and
>money) to go back, clean things up and rebuild the
>foundation given the fact that even though the wheel is
>not rounded, it is turning and can't afford to be stopped?
>
>Many thanks
>

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http://www.devx.com/Intel/Article/11016

"Gia Dich" <bdao@ixpres.com> wrote in message
news:052501c2de44$5b450eb0$a30
1280a@phx.gbl...
> I just got my job a few weeks ago. I was hired not to
> program but basically do db maintenance (well, db
> maintenance is close enough) Even though the company has
> started to notice my potential, I am not tasked to program
> yet due to the amount of work that we have for my current
> position.
>
> The company has a few VB apps which have been converted to
> web apps (still working on 'em as we speak). All are full
> of bugs due to bad design & coding. We have deadlines for
> both clients and potential clients.
>
> The programmers on the project don't really have any
> standard coding practices at all and are not capable of
> designing well rounded apps (in my humble opion). They've
> gotten to the point where they are afraid to make
> modifications.
>
> While I can identify the problems, I could not make any
> modifications. I still am learning about the business
> logic and have minimum exposures to the code. If I take
> over the coding, it would take me a while to fix up the
> problems. If we let the programmers do it, I would have
> to shed some lights on basic things like naming
> convention, code formatting, UI design, input
> validation ... Either way, it will take time and time is
> a luxury that we dont have at the moment.
>
> How should I approach the president of the company to
> convince him that we really need spend some time (and
> money) to go back, clean things up and rebuild the
> foundation given the fact that even though the wheel is
> not rounded, it is turning and can't afford to be stopped?
>
> Many thanks
>
>


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