What does it mean to "cut code"? [closed]

Question

I was looking at a job offer:

[...] I am looking for a Developer who hacks code for pleasure, takes pride in their works and displays a keen interest in learning new technologies (boys toys). My client doesn’t care what language you use they pick the best tools for the job. Day to day work will be highly varied and across the entire stack.

The Java / Scala / Ruby developer will:

• Cut code (a big surprise to many)
• Release Management
• Core software Development

[...]

What does it mean to "cut code"? And why would that be a big surprise?

Edit: as I can read from the comments, it looks like being quite a negative term, so why would they employ it in a job offer?

Answer 1

The post is from a recruiter, and they chose their words poorly on multiple parts and in a variety of ways.

First of all, "cut code" is slang for "writing code" in the same way that some people refer to "cutting a check" (or "cheque" for the Brits). It is often considered a derisive term for a complex task, such as with this top Google search result. Basically it reduces the work of a software engineer to being comparable to cutting a vegetable. A chef might be similarly insulted if they were told their job was food slicing, or for that matter telling a Certified Public Accountant that their job is cutting checks.

I'll also add that this ad is supposedly by a HR recruiting professional who should know better, and yet referred to technology as "boys toys". Maybe the author didn't intend sexist sentiment, but a professional should know better than to indicate gender for a job that doesn't specifically require it - and if it does require/prefer it on part of the company, that casts the employer in a very bad light indeed.

They intended to say - I HOPE - that the job involves actually writing new code and developing solutions, working with cool cutting edge technologies (I know it says it's heavily a Java position and most of the tech is old Java enterprise stuff: can't blame a salesman for trying to sizzle things up a bit, I suppose, though they really probably shouldn't in this case - if you know Java you know what it's reputation is).

Also, the last section is terribly worded, where strict requirements are mixed in with descriptions of the ideal candidate.

If I was the writers boss, I'd give them some heavy coaching and instruction. If I was the company who hired the recruiter, I'd just fire them.

Answer 2

Maybe they mean negative code? The idea would be that removing unnecessary lines of code (cutting code) is just as important as writing code.

Poor choice of words though if that is the intent.

Answer 3

I have a different background (coming from audio/video production and broadcasting, originally), and to me "Cut code" sounds like they're trying to borrow a phrase from the music recording industry, "Cut a track," which was jargon/slang for a recording session. I took it to mean that the position actually writes code. The fact that readers' backgrounds changes the impression of the post so dramatically goes to show how important it is to eliminate slang and euphemisms in written communication.

However, the jocular and sexist nature of the rest of the post makes this seem like it came from a bunch of immature frat boys (Male college fraternity members, for our international members), and @HLGEM pretty much covered that in her comment.

Besides, when being misogynistic, they should really have their grammar correct. It should be: "... (boys' toys)."

I wouldn't even respond to this advertisement.

Answer 4

What does it mean to "cut code"? And why would that be a big surprise?

'Cutting' code is old-fashioned slang for 'writing' code.

Very old-fashioned... here's a corresponding entry in the Jargon File:

cut a tape: vi

To write a software or document distribution on magnetic tape for shipment. Has nothing to do with physically cutting the medium! Early versions of this lexicon claimed that one never analogously speaks of ‘cutting a disk’, but this has since been reported as live usage. Related slang usages are mainstream business's ‘cut a check’, the recording industry's ‘cut a record’, and the military's ‘cut an order’.

All of these usages reflect physical processes in obsolete recording and duplication technologies. The first stage in manufacturing an old-style vinyl record involved cutting grooves in a stamping die with a precision lathe. More mundanely, the dominant technology for mass duplication of paper documents in pre-photocopying days involved “cutting a stencil”, punching away portions of the wax overlay on a silk screen. More directly, paper tape with holes punched in it was an important early storage medium. See also burn a CD.

Edit: as I can read from the comments, it looks like being quite a negative term, so why would they employ it in a job offer?

Writing lines-of-code is seen (by some) as a drudge job for junior programmers. According to SOME people, "seniors" don't do that: they do release management, product management, customer management, project management... anything except write code.

If (or because) the job requires coding as perhaps its main or sine qua non activity, I suppose they feel they must say so explicitly in the job offer: to try to weed out people who aren't willing and/or able to.

And reading the rest of the ad it's not really a big surprise at all.

Saying "big surprise" is meant to be 'ironic' or something. They have to say "writing code" (because it's the main requirement). They're embarrassed to say it, or trying to say it as if it's cool. So they're adding that statement as a kind of "inside joke" (i.e. "you and me, we know about coding: unlike MANY, to whom the need for CODING may come as a BIG SURPRISE").

Answer 5

My guess as a developer is that they mean they want you to refactor code. This means that you'll be rewriting existing code. The code they have probably has a lot of technical debt (ie sloppily written, not well thought-out or no longer suitable for business needs) and they want you to clean it up. Not a fun job but pretty common in all honesty.