echo ENV['PROJECT'] > /dev/null

I've been an HN member for a while, a little more than three years in fact. This specific post is authored under my pen name as I don't want to link any details to my workplace. I hope that it doesn't take away from the message that I would like to share.

About me,- I've been a developer, lead and architect on small through semi-large projects. In the past I worked my way through the trenches, did my bit to solve hundreds of bugs, took on necessary roles to spearhead core features, accepted lead roles and got to plan a project or two. All seemed to go well. You could say that my career doesn't have any major dips. Not to say that failure never happened nor that it wasn't a good learning experience. It did, but it just isn't something that defines my reputation. I would say I'm on a solid footing as would others if they were asked about me.

Now,- I joined a new team a little over 6 months ago. This is a not for profit organization that is strictly mandated by government procedures. It has a large budget. It has been around several decades. It serves tens of thousands users a year and enjoys monopoly on the services it's users require.

I am level 3 developer on this particular team. The specific project I work on is way behind. It was supposed to be delivered before I joined. There's an insurmountable amount of technical debt that nobody wants to acknowledge. Bad decisions were made with regards to developer software, tools, source control, software design, database management, environments etc. It is actually the worst performing project I have ever seen since I graduated school.

People that should not make any decision with regards to how we develop and deliver the software have all the say. Tech leads made wrong decisions as well. In addition to that, we are being thrown onto the Agile train with hope that it will save us. It will not. Consultants are invited to vet the culture or process, but there's a tsunami wave of opposition against any change. Business folks demand the software to be done ASAP. The tech leads blame the business on constant change in spec, and it's a mess.

I have lost confidence in our leads, business or otherwise. It seems that severe lack of competence is to blame on both sides. It is vented in boardrooms albeit politely and it's probably even worse behind closed doors. I don't feel comfortable bringing suggestions up as I was instructed that I'm not the source of change. I should privately let my superiors know so that they in turn could bring it up. I did, it went nowhere.

At some point today I broke. Suggestions like improving our test count are met with opposition and blame directed at business. We have one test, it doesn't do anything.

I am planning on doing a graceful back-flip out of this mess and quit.

What are your suggestions for immediate and eventual haul until my tenure is over ?


ps. I do value this community's opinion very much.