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CodeProject just highlighted an article whatever happened to reuse[^]
About 16 years ago, my company made a big deal about how good it is to reuse code. The concept was clear, implementation was non-existent. Did I have a central library to pick-up the reusable code others had developed? No. Did I have somewhere to submit a piece of reusable code so the whole company could use it? No.
At the time, I was using a mainframe to post HTML content to an intranet site. That wasn't easy because they didn't like to talk to each other. I built a reusable interface that would allow the web site to tell the interface code the JCL to execute whatever code they were running, where to place the report, put a placeholder site, launch the code, and redirected the user to the placeholder.
The launched code would write the report to the placeholder file and the user could see it on the web.
This company had 50,000 employees, as far as I know one employee reused that code several times. Basically worthless to 49,999 people.
It's always possible to come across good ideas, but if your company tells you to use reusable code, it's BS. Unless they provide a venue to get and re-use code and set up standards to supply and publish searchable, reusable code.
Even our mainframes were specialized, maybe 2-4,000 people could access the mainframes I was using.
Just to be clear, I'm not ranting about reuse itself, it's a rant about a company that said it was a good thing and then did nothing to implement this good thing. I was the only one on my team writing web data, so I couldn't even help my own team build re-usable code. We were doing the same thing several times, but management was forcing us to use new operating systems for each new project so we really couldn't build re-usable code when the OSs wouldn't talk to each other.
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Our third round of layoffs in a little over two years today, and I'm still here. I know a couple of the folks getting the axe.
'Tis not a happy place today  .
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary, are you still in an Alpha/VMS environment?
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I worked with VMS back in the late 80's on a MicroVAX-II. At the moment I'm doing C#/WPF user interfaces for commerical ink-jet printing systems.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Well, glad you survived the cuts.
At my previous employer, two rounds of cuts took the department from 18 to 5, then myself and another person left on our own leaving the current 3.
When on call, they are on call for everything in the department: hardware, network, application, database.
I don't miss that...
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I was in a place that axed a 60 person dept down to about 10. I was on call nearly every other week for things I had never even see in my life... not just the software, but entire platforms. The eventually went bankrupt, which was the best thing that happened to me. I moved on to a much quieter, more relaxing job... with new technology, better benefits, and realistic expectations.
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Yeah, sometimes it is best to get out and make a fresh start. 
Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.
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Been there, done that. Not fun, but glad to hear you survived. Now I hope you have made plans "just in case".
Actually at a previous employer, I made plans once I heard rumors of the first round of lay-offs, so I was ready when the day came. They didn't get me on the first 2 rounds of lay-offs. but I volunteered and was turned down. They finally got to me on the 3rd round --- and paid me a nice severance to do what I had planned to do anyway: start my own business.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Walt Fair, Jr. wrote: and paid me a nice severance to do what I had planned to do anyway: start my own business.
That is nice. Where I was, they rebranded the company and required us all to sign new employment acceptance offers (so the old company was gone). Thus, nobody got any severance when they shut the place down 3 months later - some folks had worked there 30+ years.
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You read/hear about this sort of thing and wonder just how those m************r's sleep at night...
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can.
“We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone
"The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone
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On expensive beds in expensive houses.
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
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I updated my resume and bought a new 'interview suit'  back when this first started.
If I was on my own, I'd consider starting my own business. Since I've got a wife with health issues and a daughter talking about graduate school, that's not an option.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I sympathize; I was in a similar position for awhile. Hang in there, but keep planning!
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Not nice.
I'm very happy to be in a successful company where this really isn't on the cards. We're actually growing faster than I think is ideal at the moment, but far better that than be in danger of having to get rid of people who still want to be working here.
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Glad you survived the cuts. That kind of thing always brings down the morale of those who are left. 
Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.
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Morale has definitely been an issue here.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Time to shop for a better office chair.
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I have been through that in a previous business too, it sucks!
It is also really detrimental to a business because what generally ends up happening is that the people, who manage not to get axed, end up being so fed up with things that they leave.
In my last place I was so down with the redundancies that when I was offered voluntary redundancy or a move to London I took the redundancy - my boss was not happy as he was banking on keeping me, even asking me if I wanted more money which just made me even more certain about leaving as money is certainly not everything when you are 'at risk' every few months.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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With our last company... things started to get weird with money then all of a sudden, we closed. We were more shocked than angry, but we eventually got absorbed by another company and rehired. Financially, we're way better off than we were before. I guess you could say, it's been for the better... ![Java | [Coffee]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif)
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Sounds familiar, a long time ago at the first company I worked for out of school, gave us our paychecks on a Friday as usual, along with the pronouncement that the company would not reopen that coming Monday. Oh the fun, of the mad scramble to cash the check and the immediate necessity to look for employment, there was no time to be angry. It's almost comical as I think about it now.
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Yeah, it's a bit rough... they did eventually give us a severance too though, so... no job but a last pay check and severance pay, during the holidays too. Company was led by a bunch of buffoons anyway so it turned out to be for the better.
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Congratulations on surviving this round.
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Thanks, Pete. Those of us who labor on in the galleys watch dully as our comrades' bodies float off into the sunset.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Time to put the CV out?
Stephen Schneider, Climate Scientist: "Scientists need to get some broader based support, to capture the public’s imagination…that, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have…each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. "
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Congratulations, Gary, and deepest sympathies !
At the last full-time gig I had in the U.S., back around 2000, in a mental-hospital posing as a software company in Redmond (under the very eye of Sauron, so to speak), getting laid-off was very difficult: people at the company were crying, and in shock, and I felt so guilty that I was ecstatic because I hated working there, and, since they laid me off, I got to keep my sign-on bonus, and got a severance payment, as well as qualified for unemployment.
I had to suppress wanting to scream for joy, which is always a bummer.
cheers, Bill
“Use the word 'cybernetics,' Norbert, because nobody knows what it means. This will always put you at an advantage in arguments.” Claude Shannon (Information Theory scientist): letter to Norbert Weiner of M.I.T., circa 1940
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