I noticed something interesting today…

While reviewing remaining defects to be corrected in our web application, a programmer’s name came up several times.  Let’s call him Cramer Joe.  Frequently, developers explain the source of the defects as the result of the bad practices and lack of quality that Cramer Joe employed when he modified or wrote code.  Cramer Joe was with us for a while, maybe two years.  He was instrumental in writing a few web applications and responsible for several major rewrites to the same.  Most of us disagree with his methodologies and programming style.  However, he wrote a lot of code.  He produced and delivered a lot of product.  That product made the company money.  His value, when looked at analytically, was very high, even if his code is the bane of our maintenance existence.  He was not very well respected when he was with us.  He had a serious attitude problem.  In fact, he had personality conflicts with several other employees.  He finally left because he felt he wasn’t respected.  For the most part, and completely due to his own behavior, he was right.

Another programmer, let’s call him Kareem, is never mentioned.  He was highly respected by many.  When he started, I had high hopes for him.  He is very bright.  So bright, in fact, that he discovered that the best way to never fail was to never do anything.  Delay, stall, make excuses, but never deliver.  So, shortly after he started to become an effective programmer (it was his first programming gig), he became the laziest, least reliable, most unproductive employee I have ever seen.  Well, I take that back: there was Trenton, the SEO Optimization specialist that surfed gay porn all day and generated fake reports, but he doesn’t really count.  He was just a shyster.

We never, ever bring up Kareem in conversation.  We all liked him well enough.  He produced nothing in several years of employment.  He was given raises and promotions.  Then he left to pursue other things.  His good name is preserved.  Actually, now that I think of it, he legally changed his name right before he left. I wonder if he’s a terrorist?

Cramer Joe, on the other hand, we speak of with disdain, and often.  He left behind his legacy in potentially hundreds of thousand of lines of questionable code.  The code works but we hate having to modify or troubleshoot it.  But it works!  It made a lot of money for our company.  Yet, all we can think of is what a bastard he was when he was with us.  His code, therefore, is like a rodent in the grass.  We chase it with the lawn mower and try to eradicate it wherever we encounter it.

The moral of the story is:  If you don’t want people to bad-mouth you when you are gone, be nice.  If you want people to remember you, be productive – and leave something behind.  If you want it to last, make it good.