Month: May 2016

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My aunt passed away today. She was 68, and a happy, lively soul. Heart attack was the initial diagnosis. Some raw thoughts while I still feel them:

• There is no dignity in death. The instant you die, you become a body to everybody else. “Where are they keeping the body?” People ask. When is the cremation? When are the kids coming?
• My parents are getting old too. It’s hard to deal with your mom’s and dad’s mortality. Especially when all through they’ve been a fixture, and larger than life.
• People really don’t know how to behave when they come over to visit. There’s a stilted awkwardness all around.
• When your kids are so far away, your body is kept in a mortuary until they can come and attend to your last rites. This takes at least 48 hours.
• My uncle is resigned to his new life, but his eyes brim over when he talks of her death.
• And finally, I’m 31 now, so around 50% of my life is over. Have I really done what I wanted with my life?

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I bought my Xbox One around a year ago. It was a good time to buy: Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal were head-to-head trying to outdo each other with offers, and I’ve always wanted a gaming machine of my own.

Hari asked me to build a PC gaming rig instead, but I didn’t want to go through the pain of purchasing parts, building and maintaining a custom rig.

In hindsight, this was the wrong decision.

Why? Because one of the major reasons somebody like me would buy an Xbox is to offload the support and repair work to somebody more capable. Apparently though, in India, Microsoft will not repair consoles after the warranty expires. Even if you are willing to pay for the repair.

Microsoft will not repair consoles after the warranty expires

Yup, you read that right. At first I found that hard to believe, but the Xbox Repair Request Website shows something like this:

Note the text in red: “There are no Offers associated with the problem/accessory type selected.”

Because Offers is a pretty vague way to phrase a repair request, I decided to talk to customer support. Elaine Q at Xbox Support was very friendly but equally unhelpful.

Here’s an extract from the chat log¹:

> Vishnu: at 14:26:06
But just to check, can I not pay for the repair?

> Vishnu: at 14:26:11
If I send it in?

> Elaine Q.: at 14:26:46
Thank you so much! So sorry but there's no paid repair option that's also showing up here, Vishnu. The paid repair option is also not offered. My sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

> Vishnu: at 14:27:27
Ok, that's bad. I'll try with OSUDT3.

> Vishnu: at 14:27:33
Is there any other way you can help?

> Elaine Q.: at 14:29:58
Yes please do try it out, Vishnu. It will be very much appreciated. I would really love to process a repair order but I am really sorry as there's no option that's showing up since the system detected that your console is no longer within warranty. But no need to worry, trying out the offline update again is the best possible option. This is not a guarantee and we don't recommend this but you may also try to check with retailers near you if they have any possible option for xbox one consoles which are no longer working but please consider it as well that in case if they modify or alter the console and it gets fixed, you will no longer be able to connect to live.  

This is frankly, preposterous. Microsoft can sell its consoles here, but can’t be bothered to offer support.

If I can’t find a way to resolve this, I’m swearing off the Xbox platform entirely for a long time. A shame, because it was looking really promising with the Windows 10 unified app platform and backwards compatibility and all.

Following Hari’s advice again, I’m going to go with a PC gaming rig instead. Other positives that work for a PC:

• It’s a real computer. Every app should work.
• Games are so much cheaper.
• One major drawback was a good interface for TV, but Steam’s Big Picture Modeis looking really good. It can even add apps and games that are not bought through Steam.
• No Xbox Live subscription for network play².

If you have any suggestions on how to fix my Xbox, I would love it. Things I’ve tried:

• Soft and Hard-Reset. No change, the screen still takes a long time to get to an Error E200.
• The Offline Diagnostic Tool.
• A Factory Reset.

Just a note that I didn’t cause this Xbox failure in any fashion. The power conked off in the middle of a software update and from then on, Xbox wouldn’t start up³.

In short, nothing seems to work. If I’m not able to find a solution for this, I will strongly recommend that you do not buy an Xbox One from India.

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Good computer science know-how and engineering skills seem to be generally thought of like this:

The implication, of course, is that you need to be a computer scientist to be a software engineer.

If you remove the words “computer” & “software” from this & make the diagram more general, some of the absurdity of this assumption will bleed through:

i.e. to be a great Engineer, you first need to be Scientist or a Researcher in the field. This rings patently false.

Of course, Computer Science as a field is useful to become a Software Engineer. It’s just that at least, the Venn diagram should be redrawn like this:

A lot of working engineers would agree: they have used at least some of the skills and know-how that a computer scientist would pick up, but it’s not the primary thing they do.

Engineers do more than Algorithms.

They write legible code for other human beings, they think of creative solutions to real business problems (often by judicious use of libraries and software that other engineers have painstakingly written), they contribute to writing maintainable code, they document & test, and far often than worrying about O(N) complexity, they worry about building something useful and valuable.

Good Engineers do know when to use a Hashmap over a List. But they also know when to pick Redis over MySQL (Technology Choices), how to not reinvent the wheel (NIH Syndrome), and when to consciously write hacky solutions to further business goals (Pragmatism) & when to revisit it to make sure foundations remain strong (Technical Debt).

Engineers do more than Algorithms. Good engineers value collaboration and teamwork over the competition (like ugh, Coding Contests. They understand that even though they are called “Engineers”, the ephemeral code they write is not the same as brick and mortar or steel and cement. Code is fluid, and writing code that lasts and changes and builds on itself needs different planning & team management than you’ll find amongst architects or construction engineers. They value Agility over static upfront planning, and they’ve learned (often the hard way) to stand up to dysfunctional managers and team leaders who think of building software as raising up a dullard pillar: all labor and effort and a little creativity.

Good programmers are writers. They are craftsmen, working hard at their tools and tasks, learning skill & gaining experience, making wonderful tools and useful products for everybody else.

Great Software Engineers work together like a team of artists. They value each other’s work, they complement each other’s skills, and like a theater troupe, they put in their best performances to build something truly great.

Let’s redraw the Venn diagram:

Engineers do more than Algorithms. Our field sure does value the knowledge we learn from Computer Science. But let’s make sure that we understand what we do is broader than and different to what Computer Scientists and Researchers do. This is doubly important because the most profound change we need in this generation is this: everybody should be a programmer. We’d like everybody to learn how to code, but that will not happen if we continue to place the wrong emphasis on what we do and who we are.

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If you agree with what’s written here and would like to contribute to a small video my company is preparing on the topic, please write to help@sv.co. Thank you!

Please hashtag your thoughts with #EngineersDoMore so I can follow up.