Yes, I've witnessed a over emphasis on TDD and BDD lead to a team regressing. TDD/BDD became the deliverable not the product.
This is even more prevalent in the test masturbation known as Cucumber. Like your experience the lead in this case a weak developer was extremely pleased we had a very high coverage using Cucumber and because we where using Cucumber, by proxy we where doing BDD right??? ;) So bonus points are to be gained when reporting to management. The fact was the Cucumber sweet was a heavy set of UI tests against the most fragile part of the system; what changes most in a html app? A: The UI. The implementation in Cucumber is poorly executed leading to hours debugging because of it's shared mutable state in Cucumbers global world giving absolutely no value as features under test could be tested lower down the stack more reliably, faster, giving more value. I'd go as far to say the only person getting benefit from Cucumber is the person reporting to management trying to look like they've been busy and proactive or someone selling their consultancy fee. Cucumber is nothing more than the work of Satan seeing how much punishment a team can take while chasing the mythical utopia promised but never quite reached! Better tools exist!!!
I'm not saying TDD/BDD is bad, I use it when I think needed and enjoy it when used sparingly when requeied. Doing tdd because someone told you so and then the tests taking higher priority than deliverable code is bad unless your code results in death or other hardship upon someone, in these cases you're best of using a more formal approach to testing! Cargo culting at it's best.
"In my experience, the best employees are positive, low maintenance and unselfish."
The above is true if you want a mediocre employee who does what is required and no more without rocking the boat, great if you work in McDonalds or other such industry.
If you hire a smart employee based on being a smart employee you hire them to tell you what you should be doing not to tell them how to do the thing you hired them for.
“when should I expect to get promoted if I exceed your expectations?... can indicate that a candidate values personal objectives above all else”
Sounds like someone is driven, sure they are self driven but to drive there own success they have to drive the companies success.
It does sound like poor management, not knowing how to handle a smart employee who raises concern, as a smart employee should.
This is even more prevalent in the test masturbation known as Cucumber. Like your experience the lead in this case a weak developer was extremely pleased we had a very high coverage using Cucumber and because we where using Cucumber, by proxy we where doing BDD right??? ;) So bonus points are to be gained when reporting to management. The fact was the Cucumber sweet was a heavy set of UI tests against the most fragile part of the system; what changes most in a html app? A: The UI. The implementation in Cucumber is poorly executed leading to hours debugging because of it's shared mutable state in Cucumbers global world giving absolutely no value as features under test could be tested lower down the stack more reliably, faster, giving more value. I'd go as far to say the only person getting benefit from Cucumber is the person reporting to management trying to look like they've been busy and proactive or someone selling their consultancy fee. Cucumber is nothing more than the work of Satan seeing how much punishment a team can take while chasing the mythical utopia promised but never quite reached! Better tools exist!!!
I'm not saying TDD/BDD is bad, I use it when I think needed and enjoy it when used sparingly when requeied. Doing tdd because someone told you so and then the tests taking higher priority than deliverable code is bad unless your code results in death or other hardship upon someone, in these cases you're best of using a more formal approach to testing! Cargo culting at it's best.