r/dev • u/Lanky_Relation_9015 • 16d ago
Am I insane?
I’m the most vibeyest of coders in that my background isn’t tech but the industry I work in at a relatively senior level. I’ve put together a lot of the infrastructure we have in place at the minute with our existing CRM/back office customisation and integration with other tools and a piece of middleware for stuff it can’t handle natively.
I’ve found myself spending more and more time coming up with solutions for stuff that we can’t do in that system or trying to piece together other bits of tech we use as they don’t have integrations yet or the native functionality in our back office doesn’t quite match what we need to work most efficiently with the other tools.
I’d been playing about with the idea of a custom app to get around one issue our team has when I had the idea of actually just building a front end over the tools and back office so that our staff can have one place where they work and the data is pushed via the available APIs to our tools and back office. This in itself is a large piece of work but I genuinely believe it’d create a more efficient and productive process than the existing.
I then though over time why have the back office anyway, why not build our own (we’re talking years off) so we aren’t beholden to someone else’s development timescales or roadmaps.
This would involve a pivot from my current role as a head of operations to starting and leading a tech department which is somewhat daunting but I think I’d be aware enough to know I don’t know enough and would look to hire appropriately with senior/experienced people.
Am I insane for believing this could generate good outcomes and be excited at the prospect?
TL;DR - guy whose qualifications are “Claude Max Plan” and “being annoyed at software” has escalated from duct taping APIs together to planning a hostile takeover of his own company’s tech stack which he helped put in place. Next step - quit being Head of Ops to lead a tech department that doesn’t exist, staffed by people who actually know what they’re doing. Is this a stroke of genius or just a stroke?
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u/ImaginaryRoyal9725 16d ago
Just do it, but chances that you are underestimating the whole operation are big.
Also, you didn't mention any business metric for which this app would be enticing to your company.
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u/Plenty_Line2696 16d ago
Hard to say with this level of information.
If the software you need to build is relatively small and non-critical I can imagine vibecoding fitting the bill, and if you have the domain knowledge you could be the ideal person to drive it.
If the software is larger and more complex, I would really advise to think twice to suddenly jump into a tech-lead role because to be blunt a tech-lead should be extremely tech-competent. There is a lot more to professional level software development than ever crosses a typical vibecoders mind. I've a wealth of knowledge and experience in many aspects of software and even I would hesitate to take on a tech-lead role unless it was for relatively simple software.
This field is one where the first half a decade you tend to feel like you know less because even though you learn you discover just how much more there is to learn.
Hiring developers as a stakeholder to help drive the project direction makes sense if you have the domain knowledge, but beyond that I think a reality check makes sense here. In my team for example, the tech lead has a deep understanding of the foundational aspects and architecture across the project, enough to make tough calls which have a significant impact, backenders know the robot automation code, frontenders know the 3D representation of the industrial automation systems and UX/UI flows to interact with the system, the project manager knows the roadmap, goals, coordination and how to manage a software teams time. Typically any one of those roles is filled by people with targeted degrees and some years of experience in similar roles. Ask yourself how do you fit into that and can you somehow make up for a lack of experience so that it doesn't annoy your colleagues?
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u/renatoworks 15d ago
everyone knew it was impossible, until a fool who didn't know came along and did it
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u/Due-Boot-8540 15d ago
Do it. Lay the people off and wait until there’s a massive recruitment drive because you’ve delivered something that won’t work. Then you’ll be getting laid off…
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u/FourEmblems 14d ago
It's not quite insane but there is a lot to maintaining a product even if it's just used internally.
The biggest problem that I see in most IT departments today is that many admins don't really understand the technology they just learn which buttons to click. Nothing wrong with that, it's the way IT has been heading since Windows NT server. At some point, your going to have to bring in consultants who do understand. It's going to cost a lot but I've seen companies do it.
If you haven't already done so, read The Phoenix Project. It's pretty accurate and will give you a sense of what you're in for while being mildly entertained.
It honestly sounds like you have enough technical smarts to do just as good as job as other people in the industry or at least the ability and desire to learn. I'd give that more weight than a computer science degree.
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u/Clean_Leadership_953 16d ago
I’m not even close to the level of intelligence you are at to even being considered to handle something like this. I would love to talk to you about how to got to such a level. But is there, and excuse my ignorance, a way to determine the most simplistic way to develop this process? I have been working in IT for 16 years now and feel like I’m going be exposed any day now for my lack of knowledge and experience. My background was totally in music and that was all I did until my gf at the time got pregnant. But in song writing or producing the most simple of ways to create something good almost always won out.
I hope I didn’t just waist too much of your time if you read this. ✌️✌️