Why we harp on bad habits...

[Sitten Spynne]

There are some major problems that plague our industry and lead to an inundation of terrible software.

One root: the person who suddenly realizes they need to hire a developer has no clue how to find a good one.

Another root: there is no such thing as a "licensed" developer. I have to jump through tons of hoops to perform surgery, but as far as I can tell there is no formal process to prove I'm capable of writing software for a medical instrument. Only licensing requirements that the instrument works, and I highly doubt that includes testing for resilience against malicious software attacks.

Another root: it's still very common for a career path to be "I'm a paper pusher" -> "I know a little Excel" -> "Sure, I can make some VBA forms" -> "Uh sure I'll do the payroll system for the entire company". No formal training means even less than zero percent chance of security being a consideration.

So put it all together: 90% of software is developed under these circumstances:

• The hiring manager has no clue how to tell a good developer from a bad one.
• The hiring manager DOES understand the budget.
• Experienced developers are few in number and will deliver a realistic schedule and somewhat pessimistic budget.
• Yokels are numerous and will deliver an impossible schedule and budget because they don't know better.
• Hiring managers will take the clear choice: yokels, because if 10 different people had similar low estimates that has to be the correct one, right?
• When it all catches fire and the ship sinks, they'll all say, "How could I have known?" and they're right.

You get what you pay for, and capitalism encourages us to take the lowest bidder with no other considerations. I don't think followers of the Church of the Invisible Hand will ever understand how you can pay a man poorly and not get exceptional service.