The Water Cooler

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Lilienthal

6:31 AM

@Magisch I'm of the opinion that that's entirely too long for me to bother reading. :)

Manoj Kumar Giri

6:45 AM

Can I ask career related stuff here??

bilbo_pingouin

@ManojKumarGiri in a way yes... but not "what should I do", "which job should I take", etc. which are off-topic

6 hours later…

Monica Cellio

12:41 PM

@ManojKumarGiri in chat you can talk about anything vaguely workplace-related, including getting individual advice. For questions on the main site, what bilbo said.

Hey all. I'm hoping I can get a little help on a recent SE change. They've recently changed the mobile web site to disable zoom, which is a big accessibility problem for me and other people with less-than-great vision. My bug report on Meta.SE was marked "by design". The page has very low views and SE has apparently written it off; I'd appreciate it if more people would take a look and weigh in. Thanks.

(I use the mobile web site, not the app, on my phone because I've never been able to figure out the confusing navigation in the app. Plus, tabs -- I have a browser tab pointed at every site I moderate, for easy check-ins.)

bilbo_pingouin

1:17 PM

@MonicaCellio I don't have much to contribute, but I upvoted your question. I usually use the app as, even with all its defaults, I find better than the mobile version of the site. I sympathise with the accessibility issues though...

Masked Man

@Lilienthal A lot of these HNQ on Workplace could be partially attributed to the Bicycleshed Effect. (Those who don't know what it means, look it up on Wikipedia.) It is quite an entertaining anti-pattern.

@MonicaCellio That sucks. But hey, just enable "Force Override" in the browser and be done with. :)

Monica Cellio

1:44 PM

@MaskedMan !! I did not know about "force override". Thank you! You could scoop up some MSE rep by posting that there. (I knew about "request desktop site", which would also allow zooming, but the desktop site is terrible on a phone. Which isn't surprising, given that it's designed for a 1300px-wide display.)

Masked Man

2:03 PM

Glad I could be of help. I don't care much about the reputation, but posted it as an answer there since it will help a lot of annoyed users. :)

Lilienthal

@Lilienthal - upvoting because I believe a good answer shouldn't be downvoted just because of the question. Instead, downvote the question. — Joe Strazzere 8 mins ago

@JoeStrazzere FYI: votes should be cast because you believe they are justified on a particular post, not to deny other users their vote.

A: Is voting to balance in the spirit of the site?

You should always seek to vote based on the content of the answer, not by the current score positive or negative. That's what your vote is counting for, after all - vote for what you think, not for what other people think. Their own votes are used for their opinions, after all. The sum total of ...

Voting to balance is a loaded topic which is why I don't usually comment on these kinds of downvotes. I only did in this case because the answers were well-meant contributions from new users.

Monica Cellio

@MaskedMan yeah, people beyond this chat room will care. Thanks.

Richard U

2:30 PM

@Lilienthal The voting question is loaded. Don't balance a vote has always meant that those with mischief on their minds get away with it.

Richard U

3:03 PM

just curious, is there a career lifespan for coders, as there is for stockbrokers? A stockbroker's career as a stockbroker is typically five years. After that, they typically pick up a new career, is that true in IT for coders, or do some just code till they're hauled off to their final rest?

Joe Strazzere

@Lilienthal I agree completely.

Masked Man

3:42 PM

@RichardU Many of them become managers of some sort, a few of them "upgrade" to technical leadership roles (software architects and such), although I do happen to know a few people with 20+ years of "pure" coding experience.

enderland

@RichardU officially? or unofficially

Masked Man

However, even those pure coders move from one business domain to another, or from one programming language to another (or at the very least, from one employer to another). I haven't heard of anyone doing the same sh** for more than 3 years or so.

enderland

I think there is wisdom in devs recognizing that they either have to learn new technology or accept they will have fewer jobs available, perhaps at higher pay rates, though

@MaskedMan this is the best tl;dr why HNQ sucks I've ever seen :)

Masked Man

personalexcellence.co/blog/bike-shed-effect

"everyone and his/her grandmother can give you advice on something." That is more or less the essence of the Bicycle Shed Effect (or Parkinson's Law of Triviality). It is also one of the main reasons why HNQ sucks.

Richard U

4:35 PM

@enderland, either. A bunch of my friends are trying to throw in the towel. Most of them have been doing it since they were kids, and now, pushing 50 are sick of it.

@MaskedMan I've done project management. Regular management is just not me. I'm terrible at it.

Masked Man

@RichardU I am more comfortable with people management. The so-called project management I see at my current employer totally sucks, and that makes me run even farther from it. :)

The so-called project management I see here is just the so-called manager passing orders from above to the team, and returning spreadsheets from the team to the top.

Richard U

@MaskedMan As you may have noticed from some of my posts here, I have a natural talent for aggravating people. I don't have the people skills for management beyond project management.

Masked Man

Which naturally leads me to ask, "why the f do I even need a PM? I can take orders directly from the upper management and also mail them the spreadsheets myself" :P

@RichardU In most situations, the real life me is totally opposite of what I am here.

Magisch

@MonicaCellio No zoom is really annoying. I for instance could not use the app if there was no zoom, as I'm very short sighted and holding things close to my eyes frequently triggers cluster headaches for me

Masked Man

@Magisch I hope SE (or is it now SO again?) "consider" my advice.

@Paweł Perhaps you should post questions on UX.SE before making such changes. :) — Masked Man 49 mins ago

Aaron Hall

5:19 PM

Masked Man

5:32 PM

Hello :)

Richard U

6:11 PM

greetings human

Ugh!!!! ATTACK OF THE ENTITLED!

-1

Q: relocating in state

My company does not want to lose me. I have never had to travel longer than 10 minutes and my commute will now be 45 minutes. It doesn't seem like a lot to some but going from 10 to 45 is extreme for me. I started when the company was young and have done most of the system transitions as well a...