[ShakesSpears]

So I'm currently on co-op working for a large corporation. I'm mentored by one of the 20+ members of the software team. This usually seems to be a large number of developers at other times it seems like they are spread thin (over the multiple ongoing and in development projects). This got me to thinking, and I realized I was somewhat ignorant on how many software developers usually work on a team.

I know there are large variations all the way down to one man companies. So how many people do you work with?

[Dormilich]

I’m the team myself, just like the saying: "TEAM – Toll, ein anderer macht’s" (great! someone else is doing it)

[BenignDesign]

I'm not just the team. I'm the entire department.

[lordofduct]

4 of us in dev here at the job I'm at right this moment. I don't know how many others in the rest of the office, maybe 20 or so.

And my other project there is only 2 of us. One of whom can barely write some javascript to show a lightbox, let alone the C# that is required in the project. But damn can the kid art like a son-of-a-bitch.

This post has been edited by lordofduct: 16 August 2011 - 07:03 AM

[tlhIn`toq]

• The boss says "We need this"
  
• I write the code.
  
• Another guy designs and builds the hardware/circuit boards.
  
• Another guys does QC proving it all works. Or more often finds a bug in hardware or software.
  
• When it quits failing QC the boss looks it over and says "Great now that you have that much done, add x,y and z"
  
• We all roll our eyes thinking "You could have put that in the spec to start with."
  
• Eventually the product is released.

[Rhymer]

Not that I know it as fact but....Some of the MMorpgs have, what, 1 or 2 hundred people working on it? Storyline, graphics, coding, testing...... 'Course those are unarguably tremendously large projects. Poor little me with nearly zip artistic skill goes it alone (not my regular job). The 'official' tester is my wife, if I can get her off one of those mmorpgs long enough to try to break my program. Is there a place where we can show off our finished product on DIC?
I can sympathize with tlhIn`toq.

[jjsaw5]

Recently just started a new job and went from a 2 person team to a 6 person team...it's nice to have more then one other person to share your work load with.

[Jstall]

Three people here.

I have a second interview with a larger shop this week, there will be 7 on the team when they are done hiring(4 currently) *fingers crossed*.

I would like to work with a larger team and feel it is good for my professional development to get some experience in with a larger company.

[hookiethe1]

I think there's around 150-200 coders involved in the project I'm currently working on, located in 3 different states in the US. I would like to get a job with a smaller team.

This post has been edited by hookiethe1: 16 August 2011 - 10:48 AM

[tlhIn`toq]

hookiethe1, on 16 August 2011 - 11:47 AM, said:

I think there's around 150-200 coders involved in the project I'm currently working on, located in 3 different states in the US. I would like to get a job with a smaller team.

I can't imagine the work involved in tracking changes, checking out files and so on.
Do you find at that level there is a lot of work overhead just in project/file management? Or are the various bits of the project isolated enough to allow each team/department enough autonomy?

To my thinking there comes a point of diminishing returns, where too many people just start stumbling over each other and don't really have a clear picture of what to do. Like the government. When things run a little lean and there is a small amount of pressure then people stay focused. With huge teams I would expect a lack of pressure and a "it will get done eventually" and "not my area" mix of attitudes.

[hookiethe1]

Believe me, there are a lot of wasted resources, not the least of which is time. Both time in meetings and time waiting for some other team to finish their bit so we can do our bit, but they're waiting on a different team to finish their bit before they can finish the other bit, and so on down the line.
It's a pretty big mess, and it can be very frustrating sometimes. I would much rather prefer to work on smaller jobs either by myself or with just a handful of other people.

Oh yeah, and we do have a whole team of people whose job is just to maintain the version servers and stop any branching before it gets out of control.

This post has been edited by hookiethe1: 16 August 2011 - 11:50 AM

[Nykc]

3-4 Perl Developers
4 web developers
2 DBA's
1 DBA Intern
2 BA's
2 QA's
3 Managers
1 Supervising Manager

[tlhIn`toq]

Nykc, on 16 August 2011 - 01:09 PM, said:

3-4 Perl Developers
4 web developers
2 DBA's
1 DBA Intern
2 BA's
2 QA's
3 Managers
1 Supervising Manager

15 workers and 3 managers. So a 5:1 ratio of worker and manager. Seems top-heavy to me. Must be a union gig. Then 3:1 for manager:Supervising Manager. Wow - How Dilbert of them. Nearly as many chiefs and indians.

[Nykc]

No we are non union - that's just the development department the rest of the company is probably similar with structure though.

The place I worked at before here had 4 owners, 5 Buyers, 6 Managers and of course all the owners had wives who had say and about 30 employees.

Talk about a cluster fuck

This post has been edited by Nykc: 16 August 2011 - 12:42 PM

[Raynes]

Including myself, there are 4 people on my team.