HACKER Q&A
📣 throwarayes

Could there be a “tech.fyi” (like levels.fyi for tech stack maturity?)


Maybe you’re hesitant to switch jobs - you don’t want to join a tech dumpster fire! What could we do to make tech quality transparency more available before employees join?

Imagine a place you could lookup verifiable stats that indicate the company does a good job maintaining its projects and demonstrates good software craftsmanship. What stats might make sense? Stuff like tests per lines of code, how fast can a “hello world” change be made and tested? Frequency of deploys. Number of reverted PRs? How out of date dependencies are? I’m sure there’s existing stats in the software eng community.

There’s the “Joel Test” which is a bit outdated, and has a much to do with a devs quality of life.

What verified stats would you want to know before joining a company?

  👤 slater Accepted Answer ✓
That idea might be DOA. Every company I've been able to peek behind the tech curtain, it's bubble-gum and bailing-wire all the way down.
👤 isbvhodnvemrwvn
At any medium or large company, this is going to vary significantly between projects and teams. At a small company, shit code is more or less to be expected.
👤 namaria
Software is a dirty job son. Now put your hazmat suit back on and back to scrubbing!
👤 btgeekboy
These seem like the kind of things you could/should be asking in your interview. For big companies, like levels.fyi caters to, there is no one size fits all answer. For small ones, the answer may be more straightforward, but you may have the ability to effect change for the better yourself.