The reality of working in tech: We're not hired to write code (2023)

I have a coworker who _excels_ at writing code - one of those engineers who can metabolize caffeine directly into code.

They write code to implement the all-important features. They write code to work around lack of process. They write code to work around problem people not doing their jobs well. They write code to work around buggy code by other developers. They write code to work around their own code, written weeks or months earlier.

I've been encouraging them to _reduce_ the amount of code they write, and instead consider the context around why they're writing the code. Code is just one way - and not always a particularly good way - that we can solve people and process problems.

I'd be trying to make better use of this tendency and talent, not trying to curtail it.

you are clearly missing the point, and probably feel like you have that tendency and talent yourself

Not at all. Im more of an all rounder. I just like to see people matched to tasks which suit their temperament and talent.

I hate seeing people who would rather be doing customer interaction half heartedly refuctoring while people who live and breathe code sit on customer calls bored out of their minds.

I also feel a little disgusted at seeing talent wantonly squandered unnecessarily.

I'm having kind of a hard time imagining how such position would look like. Only working on greenfield projects, moving onto the next project once the codebase gets intolerable?