Conquering the Fear of Legacy Code With Barry O’Sullivan

When developers talk about what they find exciting, they usually talk about new things. Very little content is about the actual job, about working in the existing system. When they do talk about legacy, they usually focus on how much they hate it. Where does that animosity come from and how do we confront it?

Today we get to the bottom of it with Barry O’Sullivan. Barry is a modern web development contractor with 15 years of experience in legacy web applications. He is the founder of DDIE and the co-organizer of PHP Dublin. We discuss the fear response to legacy code, the mocking of those who created it, and the ignorance of those who are quick to mock. We look at the common mistakes that lead to the fear of legacy code and discuss some common-sense solutions to overcome what is essentially a social and skill-based problem with technology.  

When you are done listening to the episode, make sure you connect with Barry on LinkedIn, and follow him on Twitter and Github.

Mentioned in this episode:

Barry O’Sullivan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryosu/ 

Barry O’Sullivan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/barryosull 

Barry O’Sullivan on Github: https://github.com/barryosull

Barry O’Sullivan on the web: https://barryosull.com 

PHP Dublin: https://www.meetup.com/PHP-Dublin/ 

Matthew Stewart, The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy: https://www.amazon.com/Management-Myth-Debunking-Business-Philosophy/dp/0393338525