| I too thought about becoming a "code shrink". I helped my department found a "Mathematics of Finance" masters program, teaching numerical methods for the first three years. Three guys were trying to combine all their courses for an omnibus project that would get them dream jobs. They were coding a never-implemented research paper in C++. Sensing my finance background was thin but I was good at programming, they arrived at my office hours to describe their failing code. I didn't understand a word they were saying. Keeping a poker face, I was sinking into depression. "They pay so much to be here, and I don't know what I'm doing. I've got to think of something to say so they'll just leave. Happy, but please, just leave." Then I heard a catch in their voices, as they described inserting a fractional time step between program phases. I jumped up, "No! You don't have to do that!" I proposed an alternative, asserting this could be their bug. I got an effusive email message that evening, and they came back two more days. Now I knew the drill. Ever notice how one is aware of cooking mistakes as one makes them? Code is the same way, one often hears the mistake as one makes it. And it's easier to hear in others. |