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I am currently having issues with a guy at work who think he's a great programmer and knows everything about what is the latest and greatest technology, but alas, is not.
I work in mechanical development, so pretty much anybody who knows how to write an Excel macro is Bill Gates here, just for you to get the picture. As a former embedded and desktop coder, I am lightyears ahead of this.
Now these people, and that particular colleague, get sometimes involved in SW programming, when they create tools helping the mechanical design or write interfaces between internal systems and matlab for instance. And this leads to terribly poor technology choices, oversized, or obsolete before they were born, or so terribly programmed that the code cannot be maintained.
The programming "guru" however has powerful persuasion skills, so he drives management, who have not the start of a clue (otherwise they would have known they need professionals to design software), into believing that what he does is the right thing to do - not intentionally, he is genuinely persuaded he is a know-how holder 
And this is eating up my patience. I am not directly involved in what he does, that is why I don't do anything about it, but I attend some meetings sometimes where I just could bang my head on the desk. To give you a feeling, it is as if you were looking over someone's shoulder and he would copy and paste 10 times the same code instead of making a for loop : it works, but gnngnnngn it is just plain wrong. 
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Why not take one of his apps, write it correctly and present it to management as they way it should be done if a professional programmer were able to do it. As I used to have in my sig: if you think a professional is expensive, wait till you try an amateur.
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Exactly my thoughts!
New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 Beta
Have you ever just looked at someone and knew the wheel was turning but the hamster was dead?
Trying to understand the behavior of some people is like trying to smell the color 9.
I'm not crazy, my reality is just different than yours!
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Because of time: this is no two-week task I am talking about here.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Considering your statement that the higher-ups have no clue about the quality of that guys work, the only way to convince them is using talk they do understand, i. e. the bottom line! Find an example where you can put your finger on and prove that the company is losing money right there, then suggest a different approach and make a modest estimation on how much money this is going to save the company. The better you are able to back up your claims, the more likely they will listen to you and follow your advice.
Better yet, if you can pull this through, and your numbers hold, they'll be more open to your suggestions in the future.
Depending on the kind of task, it may be difficult to find something to back up your numbers, but it may still not take the weeks you say it would require to actually complete the job.
P.S.:
I do agree with some of the other posts suggesting not to go over the guys head: tell him about your suggestion. The worst that could happen is he'll listen to you and follow your advice. If not, it's time to involve the higher-ups. In any case, don't bother until you have something tangible to back up your claims.
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
modified 23-Sep-14 3:15am.
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mark merrens wrote: Why not take one of his apps, write it correctly and present it to management as they way it should be done if a professional programmer were able to do it.
Because making an enemy of someone who is very persuasive to management is an extremely bad idea.
Better, improve something, and show it to the guy himself.
Remember to smile and not to talk to him like he's an idiot. It's always preferable to open a discussion, rather than start a war.
[edited a typo]
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
modified 22-Sep-14 14:55pm.
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I disagree: once you show management that he is not what he says he is, his influence will rapidly wane.
If you show it to him, he'll just steal it and the credit.
Besides, how boring would life be without a few enemies.
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mark merrens wrote: Besides, how boring would life be without a few enemies.
So people with split personalities are never bored? 
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mark merrens wrote: once you show management that he is not what he says he is, his influence will rapidly wane.
That's highly unlikely.
What is more likely to happen is that they will talk to him about what you've shown them, and he will be, shall we say, "not entirely ecstatic" about your going to them.
He will take your action as an attack against him, and do everything he can to get back at you.
And rightly so. If he is the de facto go-to guy, you make your suggestions to him first.
When did going over someone's head without talking to him first become acceptable behaviour?
In my book, it's not the least bit acceptable.
If you went straight to his boss without seeing him first, you'd deserve everything he stuck to you.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Have to agree.. Besides what gives you the idea management will recognise good or bad code?
If it does the job, they'd probably be happy....
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Not over his head, around him. Not the same thing.
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That's just pedantry, and won't make his feelings about what you do any better.
If you can't play nice with the other kids, everyone loses -- you, your colleagues, and the company.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: If you can't play nice with the other kids, everyone loses -- you, your colleagues, and the company.
I have to agree with every bit of what you said so far. Unfortunately, in our industry (software development in general) soft skills are rare to find, specially having a good political attitude.
I have myself struggled over the years to grow up and learn to deal with things I do not agree with and one of my greatest lessons was to not go cry for the boss. I have made that mistake already and I have also learned that going directly to the person I disagree with rendered much better results.
Most of the time when I would approach the person directly, the results were positive. They would listen to me and even when we could not reach an agreement, our relationship did not deteriorate. And surprisingly, most of the time the relationship improved, they would come to me for advice and even recognize my ideas to upper management.
All in all, I learned that by swallowing my pride, I couldn't go wrong; and eventually it ceased to be difficult to do it. Being humble, being right or wrong (yes, it happens) tends to work on your own benefit.
I never have to say: "I told you so!". With this type of attitude, it becomes unnecessary.
This is one of the things I believe the younger ones need to be better educated about. There should a dedicated class in this area in every college, I wish this could be learned outside the scope of real life experience, not sure how feasible this is.
I heard you mention something about a book you wrote. Care to share an amazon link?
Cheers
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson
----
Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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I've bookmarked your message, to show to people. Having a "from the horse's mouth" personal anecdote like that is worth any amount of trying to explain to people where they might be making their own lives more difficult.
On schooling: I've often thought of putting down some points on this topic, to be used in a class, but the thought of such material being used by organisations that anally and robotically follow processes has put me off, every time I've sat down to do it -- visions of employees of a certain petrochemical company (that shell remain nameless) mindlessly ticking off what they've "achieved" during the day flood my brain:
"I've chatted with so-and-so, as it says to do in paragraph 11; I've arranged a catch-up meeting with thingummy, like in section 3a; and I've defused a potential problem by following the first stages of the 'admitting a weakness' chapter. That's a good day's work! Now I only have to follow the steps in section nine, and I can ask for a promotion!"
God only knows how they ever get anything done.
It's Marc Clifton who writes all the books, around here. I only write, well, just about everything else.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: I've bookmarked your message, to show to people.
This makes me happy. Hopefully, we can reach and enlighten more people.
Mark_Wallace wrote: God only knows how they ever get anything done.
I hear you, I've experienced myself situations where playing by the book becomes more important than the mission it's trying to accomplish.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson
----
Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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Ah! Got it!
I said "In my book, ~~".
Unfortunately, that's just an expression that you use to indicate that you're stating a strong opinion.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Right... Not being a native speaker of the language makes me miss this kind of stuff sometimes.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson
----
Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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That's cowardly nonsense: if you can't stand up for yourself you'll get pounded and that'll be the first guy to do it.
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Hwuh?
You're talking to me, here. I've been in bar fights.
The point is that you go to work to earn a living.
In order for you to earn a living, your company has to be profitable, and run smoothly.
Picking fights because you think you can do someone else's job better than him (whether it's true or not) will in no way help you to achieve your objective (of making a living), and, if you upset too many people, may even result in your having to try and earn your living elsewhere.
A few people in this thread have given their personal experiences and opinions on how to handle such a situation, but the only ones who have said the situation actually improved are those who said that they did not go out of their way to make anyone look like an idiot, but instead used their brains and focused on doing things that would resolve the situation, rather than escalate it.
You are not at war with your colleagues, and your objective has got nothing to do with belittling your colleagues.
If anyone doesn't think those two statements are true, then the person who is preventing the company working smoothly (and therefore endangering the objective of making a living) is not the guy who is writing code (poor or otherwise), it's the guy who is causing friction and political battles between colleagues.
Any idiot can cause trouble, run to tell mummy tales, and call people cowards. I thought developers were meant to be more intelligent than any idiot.
You won't solve a programming problem by giving your computer a show of ego, and, somewhat unsurprisingly, a show of ego doesn't solve any other kind of problem, either.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Nobody said anything about picking a fight: those are your words. I said to stand up for yourself and make yourself heard above the babbling incoherence of stupidity that infests so many companies.
To give an idiot your time and ideas is to waste them. And if you won't go around someone even when that would directly help the company then you do that company a dis-service with your ever-so-'umble politics.
If you don't take risks, if you don't challenge people you will never get anywhere. If you are happy with that then fine; if not, then do something.
Mark_Wallace wrote: I've been in bar fights
Ooh, quivering. What a childish threat: no wonder you won't stand up to anyone.
Mark_Wallace wrote: You won't solve a programming problem by giving your computer a show of ego, and, somewhat unsurprisingly, a show of ego doesn't solve any other kind of problem, either.
Ego is your word, not mine. No one said ego had anything to do with it. You have a very narrow, child like view of the world. No risk, no reward. You can approach the manager without shoving your ego out in front of you.
Remember, you are trying to help the company, not hurt it. If you can't articulate that properly then sure, don't do it. Mouse up and sit in the corner or give in to the office idiot.
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Going to someone's boss to tell him that he's an idiot is a good way to pick a fight.
Calling people cowards is a good way to pick fights.
Take a step back, look at what you're doing and saying, and then picture how you would feel if someone else did or said such things to you.
Your perspective on this thing has been egoistic and aggressive. Those are not endearing qualities, so don't be surprised when people get pissed off with you, and respond egoistically and aggressively (which I haven't, for which you can thank your lucky stars).
Bear in mind that the biggest problem is that if everyone is posturing egoistically and aggressively, no work gets done, so everyone's objective of making a living is endangered.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Going to someone's boss to tell him that he's an idiot is a good way to pick a fight.
You are a very poor communicator: no one said call him an idiot except you.
Mark_Wallace wrote: Calling people cowards is a good way to pick fights.
You're welcome, coward.
Mark_Wallace wrote: Take a step back, look at what you're doing and saying, and then picture how you would feel if someone else did or said such things to you.
a) never happened.
b) I would confront them (I don't have a problem with confrontation).
Mark_Wallace wrote: Your perspective on this thing has been egoistic and aggressive.
Neither, actually. Ego doesn't come into it and I am not really aggressive except when confronted.
Mark_Wallace wrote: Those are not endearing qualities, so don't be surprised when people get pissed off with you, and respond egoistically and aggressively (which I haven't, for which you can thank your lucky stars).
Haha. You are a funny little man. How childlike to threaten over the internet you idiot.
Mark_Wallace wrote: Bear in mind that the biggest problem is that if everyone is posturing egoistically and aggressively, no work gets done, so everyone's objective of making a living is endangered.
Perhaps in your childish, ego-laden world where everyone walkson eggshells and everyone gets bullied because no one stands up for themesleves.
And your constant references to how tough you are - hilarious. I don't know you but I'm willing to bet you are not what you advertise yourself to be: anyone that feels the need to point it out... is not.
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tl;dr
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're a tough guy and everyone had better keep out of your way.
Do you know how many employees with that kind of attitude I've had to deal with?
Come work for me; you might learn something about being a bearable colleague.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I'm not tough at all, I'm a real softy. I just stand up for myself and don't get pushed around by meathead jerkoffs like you. If you were my employee... Well, actually, I wouldn't employ anyone who has to say how tough they are. And work for you? Unlikely, I have met many like you over the years - they all have one thing in common - they think they have to tell you how tough they are. Stupid. Don't say - do.
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tl;dr (as in it's longer than zero words)
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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