You know when users complain about the lingering bugs, unexpected slow downs, and slow delivery of new features caused by tech debt (even though they don’t know that). That’s them caring about your stack, whether they know it or not.
Do you know why banks are still running COBOL on new, old architecture, IBM mainframes? Sure, it’s in part due to risk aversion, ignorance and inertia. But it’s also because, if in the end the result is the same, then the tech stack doesn’t matter.
Very few people are tech fanatics, most people want results. They care when the products don’t work. They don’t care how you fix it as long as you fix it in a reasonable manner, within an acceptable timeframe at an affordable price.
Doesn’t matter if the customer is a billion dollars bank or a social network. Debbie thinks javascript is when the barista puts her initials on her latte and rust is something to fear when it shows up under her car. Too many devs forget this.
That’s actually the area I currently work in, though not banking specifically. We do financial software for small governments. All the software was written in the 80s and 90s and we’re babying it along well into the 2030s in all likelihood. Those old systems require very specific environments which we’re now trying to emulate in the cloud. It’s fairly specific at the end of the day. And because this small government segment is currently undergoing consolidation I know what we see is the norm.
Thankfully I just have to maintain the cloud infrastructure and making it as reliable and secure as possible.
You know when users complain about the lingering bugs, unexpected slow downs, and slow delivery of new features caused by tech debt (even though they don’t know that). That’s them caring about your stack, whether they know it or not.
Banks.
Do you know why banks are still running COBOL on new, old architecture, IBM mainframes? Sure, it’s in part due to risk aversion, ignorance and inertia. But it’s also because, if in the end the result is the same, then the tech stack doesn’t matter.
Very few people are tech fanatics, most people want results. They care when the products don’t work. They don’t care how you fix it as long as you fix it in a reasonable manner, within an acceptable timeframe at an affordable price.
Doesn’t matter if the customer is a billion dollars bank or a social network. Debbie thinks javascript is when the barista puts her initials on her latte and rust is something to fear when it shows up under her car. Too many devs forget this.
That’s actually the area I currently work in, though not banking specifically. We do financial software for small governments. All the software was written in the 80s and 90s and we’re babying it along well into the 2030s in all likelihood. Those old systems require very specific environments which we’re now trying to emulate in the cloud. It’s fairly specific at the end of the day. And because this small government segment is currently undergoing consolidation I know what we see is the norm.
Thankfully I just have to maintain the cloud infrastructure and making it as reliable and secure as possible.
deleted by creator
I would say, it’s them caring about the product and their needs, rather than the underlying stack.
I would say you can’t separate the two. It’s a natural extension of Gall’s Law, the simple system that works is the stack.
tbh I’m confident I can deliver bugs, slowdowns, and tech debt using any stack 😎
But that isn’t caring about your stack beyond that your stack isn’t shit.