I had to do this at a couple of logistics companies. I even got certified to drive a fork lift while doing “cross training” at a warehouse. The warehouse worker who sat in my programmer cubicle for two weeks did not learn how to program.
I see a lot of value in programmers learning how their code gets used by eating their dog food alongside actual users. When I started my career in the late ‘70s programming didn’t usually exist as a separate business activity. It got embedded in business units — accounting, logistics, marketing, etc. I think that worked out better for everyone a lot of the time.
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I had to do this at a couple of logistics companies. I even got certified to drive a fork lift while doing “cross training” at a warehouse. The warehouse worker who sat in my programmer cubicle for two weeks did not learn how to program.
I see a lot of value in programmers learning how their code gets used by eating their dog food alongside actual users. When I started my career in the late ‘70s programming didn’t usually exist as a separate business activity. It got embedded in business units — accounting, logistics, marketing, etc. I think that worked out better for everyone a lot of the time.