Comment by ratww
5 years ago
Amen to that too. That's probably the most complicated part of being a manager or tech lead. You have those amazing junior-almost-senior engineers that could be way more productive and yet deliver better code, purely by "doing less", but the over-engineering gets in the way. You know they could be top-contributors, so you don't want them to leave. But at the same time it's very tiring!
I noticed that they put a lot of their self-worth in the sophistication of their code, so it's difficult to criticise without making them feel bad. You need alternative methods of getting them to "see the light" and write code that's more understandable and maintainable by others.
What alternative methods have you found to get them to "see the light"? I've found myself wishing they'd do therapy, but that doesn't help and can't be expressed.
Mostly public feedback (for only the good things, of course). Put their "good" code on code samples, documentation, code guidelines, tell the team "look everyone please do it like person X did here". It will surprise them in a positive way.
Also on PRs try to point to their own work as sample of how to do things better. This doesn't hurt the ego much, because the role model is themselves.
Also, I feel like most of the time this is an impostor-syndrome/perfectionism issue that also happens with other workers too, so HR can give tips on how to deal with those issues in a more sensible way and tell you what you can or can't say.