11–20 of 24 posts
If you compare this to the average McDonald's worker who is just expected to fulfill the same generic duties for the same generic pay, you can see most devs don't fit this definition.
Agile did it. Developers became resources to be pluged into existing projects sprints. Want it quickier just add more resources.
No, it didn't.
> Developers became resources to be pluged into existing projects sprints.
> Want it quickier just add more resources.
Except for the word “sprints” all of that long predates Agile. This common management attitude was the central target of The Mythical Man-Month, which was published 26 years before the Agile Manifesto.
There's a huge stratification going on, between developers as commodities and developers as assets.
If you're a tech company, looking to grow by building new products or significantly expanding existing ones, then your developers are assets and you treasure them.
If you're looking to grow in other ways (e.g. by acquisition) then you can put all your products in maintenance mode, and your developers are a cost that you want to cut as much as possible.
Developers as a whole are not a commoditised resource, but certainly can be treated that way depending on the company and its business plan.
Yes and no. Being a computer programmer covers a wide range of skills and roles. It's like construction. There's a huge range. Some people cut and nail up dry wall. They do their work without having to invent things, using skills that can be executed rote. Other builders have to design a custom bridge for a unique mountain range that must handle stress not normally found in cookie cutter bridge designs. A big part of…
> Other builders have to design a custom bridge for a unique mountain range that must handle stress not normally found in cookie cutter bridge designs. Aren’t you confusing builders and engineers?
The term "computer programmer" gets assigned to everyone who makes software. Some programmers invent little like a dry wall worker. All average people could become this kind of programmer.
Other programmers invent with skills out of reach of most common people.
Agile did it. Developers became resources to be pluged into existing projects sprints. Want it quickier just add more resources.
Huh? How does that even work?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh? How does that even work?
Usually adding one new resource subtracts a resource overall because they take other resources time. In the best case it may give you half a resource boost but it puts pressure on supporting units.
There is actually a large segment of the online marketplace where I would say "commoditized" is almost accurate especially when compared with some Silicon Valley rates. And this does in fact include a significant percentage of highly skilled programmers.
Of course, when you are in the commodity rate range, finding the highly skilled programmers is a challenge. But as I said, they do exist.
But there is a limit to how far that goes. You will see massive discounts when comparing some markets, but the less common knowledge still is at a premium rate.
One caveat is that there will often be a minor concession in terms of something like English language proficiency for example.
But I think that us programmers actually should try to take proactive steps to slow the race to the bottom in terms of compensation. Especially as remote becomes mainstream and markets open up to online and overseas programmers even more.
My own personal belief, which is really just pure speculation, is that ordinary types of programming will be automated by artificial general intelligence within one or two decades. So I personally think that the wage labor paradigm and other core aspects of our economic system will be completely obsoleted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Other builders have to design a custom bridge for a unique mountain range that must handle stress not normally found in cookie cutter bridge designs. Aren’t you confusing builders and engineers?
No, that's actually the point of the post. That programmers, developers, or what have you are all clumped together. When in reality there are many distinct kinds of programmers with different skills, just like in the world of physical structures. The term "computer programmer" gets assigned to everyone who makes software. Some programmers invent little like a dry wall worker. All average people could become this kind…