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Software Development Catch 22
Code creates bugs and bugs are fixed by code
“Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.” -Joseph Heller
Developers get themselves into a catch-22. They work hard on the project to get promoted but to get promoted they need new skills which they can’t learn because they are working too hard on the project.
Catch-22 (affiliate link) is a novel by Joseph Heller set in world war 2, about a bombardier named Yossarian who believes the enemy is anyone who is trying to kill him and the greatest threat to his life is the senior officers who keep sending him on dangerous bombing missions.
Catch-22 is a paradoxical loop that you cannot escape. It’s a chicken or egg situation. You can’t have a chicken without an egg, but you can’t have an egg without a chicken.
There will be many software developers who believe the greatest threat to their well-being is their own managers who agree to impossible project plans and don’t let them leave the project.
The other classic catch-22 is you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job.
An example is from the book
“You mean there’s a catch?”
“Sure there’s a catch,” Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.”
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the…
