The
HarassedHackers are developers who care about their work, but find that the forces of money* and "established technology base" are forcing them to work with irredeemable technology and practices.
Typical problems:
- institutions that never hesitate to introduce a manual process where they could use UbiquitousAutomation
- Systems that are very difficult to test (Something that could be avoided with a little thought... if the original author had heard of TestDrivenDesign, or had cared.)
- Institutions that love expensive commercial tools but don't really "get" design. (The tools help them generate more rubbish, faster, and with new layers of complexity.)
- Institutions that are driven to fix** cosmetic bugs first, and make testing and "fixing broken windows" low priority. (** "Fix" in this context often means "kludge".)
The
HarassedHacker isn't being allowed to be a
PragmaticProgrammer.
In a nutshell, a
HarassedHacker is a
PragmaticProgrammer who is being screwed by sheer force of money*.
(* Not that the developer is receiving the money - only that those with power over the project insist on the status quo - apparently due to short-term economics, and that the developer can't change jobs easily...)
Examples:
See also:
PragmaticProgrammer,
FixBrokenWindows
ProgrammerStereotype