1
Zhang Dapang just joined the company and met a mysterious colleague: He Xiaoxiao.
Others are very busy at work, but He Xiaoxiao's work seems to be very relaxed. He never works overtime and goes home when the time comes.
When Fatty Zhang asked others, it turned out that He Xiaowei had been maintaining an old project for five years.
Once on the way home from get off work, Fatty Zhang ran into He Xiaoxiao and asked him about the details of the project.
He Xiaowei said: "This project is done using Applet technology, which realizes a web-based online customer service system. When customers use the website, if they have any questions, they can directly ask the customer service staff on the web page. Reply. Although the function is simple, it was a very advanced function in the mid-to-late 1990s.”
Big Fatty Zhang said in shock: "Applet, this is an ancient technology!"
He Xiaowei: "This Applet project relies on an antique-level Library, which is developed based on JDK1.1!"
Fatty Zhang was shocked again: "JDK1.1, that is the earliest batch of JDK."
He Xiaowei said: "Due to the long history, this Library is no longer maintained. Every time Applet projects add new requirements and modify bugs, they can only use the functions of JDK1.1 and compile on JDK1.1."
Fatty Zhang clicked his tongue, feeling that such a system still exists.
Fatty Zhang asked: "Then you are trapped on this JDK1.1."
He Xiaowei said: "What does it mean to be trapped? It's a good thing. If you think about it, no one knows about this project. I have unique skills. I can maintain this project forever. I can't be laid off even if the leader wants to."
Fatty Zhang thought to himself, this job is very good. At He Xiaoxiao's age, if he maintains it for a few more years, he may be able to retire.
Unexpectedly, a year later, JavaScript became popular.
Applets were quickly abandoned and the entire project was rewritten in JavaScript.
After the new project went live, He Xiaoxiao was fired.
2
This story is fabricated by me, but the Applet project in it is real.
In the computer industry, why not survive the mid-life crisis by maintaining old projects?
There are two main reasons:
technology develops too fast
Development costs are too high and maintenance costs are too low
Computer technology is refreshed every 5 to 10 years, and new technologies often have higher performance, lower cost or better user experience.
PCs in the 1980s, LANs in the 90s, Internet in the 2000s, and mobile Internet in the 10s, with big data, cloud computing, and now GPT.
The technology stack of each era is different. After hard work, the average programmer can master the technology of one era, and then become more ruthless, at most familiar with the next era. If you want him to be proficient in the technology of the three eras, That would be fatal.
But the application does not wait for anyone, it will continue to evolve, from C/S to B/S, Browser to mobile phone, Server to cloud.
If you don't evolve your application, you will fall behind and die.
In the process of evolution, it will continue to destroy those old programmers. After a programmer has worked for 10 years, he may encounter a crisis.
Therefore, it is impossible for He Xiaoxiao to retire by maintaining the JDK1.1 Applet.
However, there are always exceptions. Some systems are left to you, but I just stand still.
The characteristics of these systems are that the business is extremely stable, and the understanding of the business is far greater than the technical requirements (such as the unemployment relief system in the United States), and it is very critical. After the development is completed with antique COBOL, no one dares to move, and the hardware remains unchanged. The software has not changed, and it has been running for decades!
Then the pandemic came, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits skyrocketed, and the system crashed, but no one could maintain it.
There is a huge gap between the requirements of natural language description and computer codes. Programmers need to exhaust their efforts to fix various unexpected problems and realize customer needs.
So software development is particularly troublesome and costly, but once the development is completed, deployed, and running stably, something magical happens:
For a development team of dozens of people, it is enough to leave a few people to maintain the project, and the rest can be invested in new projects.
Anyway, it is to fix some unimportant bugs, or to realize some new requirements. Why do you need so many people? !
Of course, the salary of those who stay to maintain the system will not be very high.
It is precisely because of these two reasons that it is very difficult for individuals to survive the midlife crisis by maintaining old projects.
3
I really want to survive by maintaining old projects, there are several possibilities.
(1) Personal project
Find a niche area, combine it with personal skills, develop a software, and maintain it all the time.
A typical representative is " A foreign little old man developed a remarkable software with obsolete programming tools ". He used Delphi to develop a 3D CAD program PROLINES, which is specially used to design ships.
PROLINES has been continuously improving this software over the past few decades, and launching new versions, such as supporting higher-definition resolutions and so on.
(2) Open source software
Linux, MySQL, and Apache HTTP Server are typical representatives. They have survived for 20 or 30 years, and will continue to exist in the foreseeable future.
These software correspond to the most basic knowledge of computers: operating systems, databases, and computer networks, which have remained unchanged for decades.
Life can be pretty good if you can be one of these famous software maintainers.
(3) Government projects won by connections
A friend has connections in the government. He formed a development team and has been taking projects from the government. He has been tinkering with several projects for many years.
Strictly speaking, it is not to maintain old projects, but to maintain relationships.
(over)
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