I\'ve just been hired as a member of a group that is developing in C++. For the

Question

I've just been hired as a member of a group that is developing in C++. For the last 11 years, I'd been coding on and off at my last job (some C, some Fortran, some C++).

The coding I'd done was mostly maintaining and adding new features to one of our systems. The code, being 10 years old, did not contain all the modern C++ stuff. Lo and behold, my new job is filled with programmers with 5-10 years experience of pure coding and they all use the most modern aspects of C++ (C++11, template, lambda, etc, etc).

They are expecting someone with that same experience... which I have: I've been working for 15 years total, but when I look at their code, I can't understand half of it! :-|

Anyone been in that situation? What would you recommend?

Explanation / Answer

When I have to work with other "experienced" people that fall into the same category as you, my biggest concern is that they would feel they have enough seniority that whatever they did for the last 15 years has always worked for them and they are happy with that. I've had some nice, clean organized code that has been completely trampled over by these "experienced" people.

What I would wish is that they (and just about everyone else, including myself) would approach programming with the idea that compared to what is out there, each of us actually knows very little and that no matter how much experience you think you have, there's always new things for you to learn and write better code, even in the language that you think you know 100%.

I'm certainly comfortable with C++11, lambdas, templates, metaprogramming, etc... but no matter how much time passes I still find that every year my code improves compared to what I used to write a year ago and I've been doing C++ professionally for 13 years.

Just by asking the question you've asked, I don't think you are in danger of being one of those "experienced" people that leave destruction and mayhem in their path. You already have a job with guys who have skills different from yours. This is great for you, don't be intimidated. Instead, show your openness and willingness to learn and I'm sure anyone on your team will be more than happy to mentor you until you get up to speed. They will be happy that you recognize that you need and want to improve yourself. I know I would be.

Ask for some code reviews and advice on how you could approach tasks differently and when you get that feedback, try to remember it for next time. Also most senior guys love to talk about design and lessons they've learned the hard way over the years. Simply talking informally, they'll give you plenty of knowledge you can take away.

As a general advice, whenever possible you should always try to surround yourself with people who are better/smarter than you. It's not a burden that you have to "deal" with but an opportunity to always improve yourself.

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