Software engineering and independence

[CyberShot]

I tend to think very independently, often coming up with unconventional, sometimes unorthodox, ways of solving problems. I do not like to listen to authority such as having to code up software a certain way or following strict guidelines/formats.


Do you think the software engineering/development field would be very tough for someone like me who prefers autonomy? If not, what fields of computer science do allow for that?

 

[caffenta]

following strict guidelines/formats.

If you work only by yourself (extremely unlikely) you can do it anyway you want. If you work for/with someone else, you'll have to follow the guidelines. Other people must be able to understand what you wrote. It's not a matter of authority, really. View it as simple politeness to others.

I'd say just learn to deal with it. You still have autonomy, but writing something that is completely incomprehensible to everyone else is not useful at all. What if you leave a project? Nobody will be able to take over.

This is going to be true for any field, btw.

 

[chiro]

I tend to think very independently, often coming up with unconventional, sometimes unorthodox, ways of solving problems. I do not like to listen to authority such as having to code up software a certain way or following strict guidelines/formats.


Do you think the software engineering/development field would be very tough for someone like me who prefers autonomy? If not, what fields of computer science do allow for that?

If you are working in a team, you have to tone down the ego. My view is this:

If you have a better way of doing something and can constructively provide an argument why this is so, and your counterpart can not refute the argument then go ahead. If however they point out something that refutes your idea, then take on board what they said.

If someone has been doing something for many years and you haven't, chances are they will know more than you. As long as you are comfortable with this "law of averages" and willing to become better by listening to your peers, then I see no problem.

Sometimes your "expert" will get it wrong, and if you end up in this situation where they don't accept their shortcomings and act like an *******, then things like "office politics" may come into your decision (and unfortunately this kind of thing happens a lot).

People that see their shortcomings and act constructively to patch them up in my book command a lot of respect and subsequently earn it.

 

[AlephZero]

Most successful large software projects are now done in a very highly structured fashion, so "not listening to authority such as having to code up software a certain way or following strict guidelines/formats." will get you nowhere, except unemployed.

 

[Ryker]

If you work only by yourself (extremely unlikely) you can do it anyway you want.

If you have a better way of doing something and can constructively provide an argument why this is so, and your counterpart can not refute the argument then go ahead.

My understanding from another topic that he made is that "coming up with unconventional, sometimes unorthodox, ways of solving problems" means "my approach is so unconventional no compiler understands me".

So as people have already mentioned in that other thread, if you're going to keep telling yourself it's just that you have a different "approach", then you're going to be in a world of trouble very soon.