Having been a web developer since 1993-4 I have seen a lot of trends-fads-hype come and go.  Some things have not come and gone, such as the points laid out in a seminal work back in 1975 by Fred Brooks in "The Mythical Man Month".  The main thrust being that adding developers to a development project that is already behind pushes it even further behind schedule.  I have seen that many times.  That is not specifically the subject of this blog post though, although it is typically the mark of inept or ill-informed management to throw resources at a project that was never accurately estimated in the first place.

This blog post is aimed squarely at addressing the issue of inept, incompetent or ill-informed management.  As good developers one of the "Smart And Gets Things Done" ilk of developers identified in another great publication from Joel Spolsky, as great developers what do we do to make sure at the end of a working day that we can hold our head high and know we did the best we could in the face of inept, incompetent or ill-informed management.  We become "Resistance Coders".

The term Resistance in this context comes from the Second World War, a dismal time in human history.  The French Resistance, for instance, would appear to be working with the Nazi's but underneath it all they would be resisting and helping those in trouble.  So, I am proposing that the great coders become Resistance Coders appearing to go along with nonsensical management but at the same time, doing the right thing, correcting crud they may encounter, Select *, no CFQUERYPARAM's etc.

I have a good friend a truly great coder, very Smart and very Get's Things Done.  That person is a true Resistance Coder, it's not easy, it means extra hours and a deal of frustration but at least they can hold their head up at the end of the day because they did the right thing.  Eventually the company they work at will lose them and that company will deserve that.

Anyone out there have any thoughts or comments?