This morning, my attention snagged hard on @danieljthomason's Software Engineer D&D Classes ("Ever suspected that software development is more like a big, poorly structured RPG than anyone admits at interviews? You're going to enjoy this, then...")
dthomason.com/Software_Engin…
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dthomason.com/Software_Engin…
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After thinking about it, I realized that the explanation is right there in the strapline: it's not merely that software development is nerdy and D&D is nerdy so they go together.
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It's really a kind of backhanded critique of the software INDUSTRY, with its back-breaking, human-destroying work schedules defined by arbitrary demands for extra work, a ginned-up sense of urgency...
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...and the casino-like possibility of an IPO or (more likely) acquisition by a Big Tech company, which lines up neatly with the post-adventure denouement in the tavern, except it's a cushy "campus" with massages and kombucha on tap.
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I love the quotes on each: "Barbarian: Unit tests give you a false sense of safety. coding should never feel safe. every line of code you write should give you anxiety about how it'll destroy the rest of the program. ride fiercely into that dark abyss."– Katerina Borodina.
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And the special abilities: "Bard (AKA 'product manager'): You unfurl a document (can be paper-based or electronic, your choice) that envelops a single enemy of your choice and leaves them incapacitated until the start of your next turn."
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Some of the matchups are spookily good, like "Healer = Quality Engineer" ("Once per day you may rollback the codebase to an earlier state, causing all party members to return to the HP and spell slots they had at that point")
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And who among us has never worked with a rogue ("security engineer")?: "While fun to have in the party,rogues can sometimes be a little unreliable, mysteriously disappears when it's time for regression testing, for example."
eof/
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