5 essential Slack custom emojis for people who write code

With free example situations!

I love Slack. Who doesn’t? It’s the cause and solution for workplace productivity. One feature I love is the ability to add custom emojis (you can find these at yourslack.slack.com/customize/emoji ). Emojis let you express a feeling (many times: frustration) better than words can as either a reaction or as part of an otherwise complete sentence.

Here are five emojis that come up again and again in the various Slack rooms I’m in. You should be able to right-click->save and upload them to your company’s Slack. I shall introduce them with example situations where I have found them useful.

Situation 1: “I’m going to rewrite the data layer”

Really? Their race is called the Mon Calamari?

:itsatrap: — YES! IT IS a trap!

Situation 2: “I’m going to add an interface and an implementation struct for this Go code I’m writing”

:angry_gopher: No! Please don’t do this! Go isn’t Java. Don’t try to write Go the way you would write Java. Just implement the thing, and leave it up to client users to create an interface for the methods they’re using. Don’t force downstream users to have to stub out methods for every method in your package.

Situation 3: “We had a problem with the current code, so we are going to rewrite the entire thing in <New Hot Language>”

:thisisfine: No, it is probably not fine, but it’s probably going to happen anyway and you don’t want to be the person who starts trouble at work. Yep, it’s our favorite dog from Gunshow comic!

If you use this image or meme, be sure to support the creator by buying a “This is fine plush dog”. Mine is friends with Gopher:

Situation 4: “I don’t know what impact this will have on user retention, but it looks better”

No controlled roll out? No A/B test? No problem. I have just the emoji for you:

:ssshipit: — Get on board the S.S. Ship It! This emoji is based on fan art of the this is fine dog, who is now a skipper. Here’s a larger version of the image:

Credit for this drawing goes to Nick Takayama

5: “The person who rewrote the service in <New Hot Language> left the company, now you have to maintain it because you drew the short straw”

Oh, yeah. We’ve all been here. I have the emoji for you now:

Name it whatever you think works.