There are no such things as good programmers. Humans have no idea how to program computers, and anybody who tells you differently is lying.
The most honest person here is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18538092
Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
41–50 of 101 posts
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#42I put in the work. I once heard a very good fencer say that the way they keep calm during competitions is to tell themselves that they've put in the hours of training and the blood, sweat and tears necessary to win. I spend hours of my days writing code, reading about how to become a better programmer, constantly analyzing my work and finding ways to improve. I'm not going to spend my time worrying about whether I'm…
Hours of deliberate practice is said to be the deciding factor in how good you are. Or at least, we can't be good without it. So yes, counting the hours we spent writing and analyzing code gives us an idea of how good we might be as programmers.
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#43You're asking the wrong question. You should be asking "Am I an efficient or effective programmer?" Do I get things in on time / under budget? Do I avoid common programming pitfalls? Do I solve more problems than I create? Do I see simple solutions to complex problems? Can I refactor terrible code to more easily maintained code? Can I avoid terribly written code in the first place? Can I effectively communicate with…
This is the correct answer
No, it just means your boss likes you.
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#44Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#45There are many ways to quantify how good of a programmer you are.
- You can compare yourself to other developers (there are plenty of qualities to compare)
- You can review your statistics (commit frequency, average file size, accuracy of time estimates)
- You can compete in programming competitions
- You can evaluate yourself using the Programmer Competency Matrix: https://sijinjoseph.com/programmer-competency-matrix/
Also, "Good" is subjective. Some programmers are "good" in certain contexts, but "not good" in others.
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#46You're asking the wrong question. You should be asking "Am I an efficient or effective programmer?" Do I get things in on time / under budget? Do I avoid common programming pitfalls? Do I solve more problems than I create? Do I see simple solutions to complex problems? Can I refactor terrible code to more easily maintained code? Can I avoid terribly written code in the first place? Can I effectively communicate with…
> You're asked for help often.
Could also mean you write unreadable code and, by extension, unmaintainable code.
> You're the go to person by the boss.
Could also mean you write unreadable code.
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 4. If your code which you wrote few years back looks bad to you, then you are on right path. What if the recent stuff looks bad too? :)
Then why are you writing it?
if you able to differentiate this is bad from good, that by itself is a progress :)
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh my gosh, no. That might be a "good" software developer, but I'd probably think not on that, too. I've had to follow behind such programmers who wrote their code with the primary goal of getting done as fast as possible never expecting to have to come back to it. It's literally the worst code that exists. Usually they no longer work at the same place they created such code, because later they were asked to maintain…
The majority of software developers are payed to ship product to a deadline. It should meet the requirements of your customers and be thoroughly tested. There are always trade offs but the biggest impediment to shipping is the procrastinator or the perfectionist. If you miss deadlines then you are failing at your job.
"...the biggest impediment to shipping is the procrastinator or the perfectionist."
I don't necessarily think that it's the "biggest" but I'll agree it's certainly one of the problems. I think I'd put "unclear specifications" as the biggest problem.
I've seen a lot of code delivered on time to meet the deadline that clearly was not ready but was delivered anyway. I've never the temerity to say, "I told you so," but I thought it. There's a balance to be had. Sometimes the deadline and the customer requirements and future maintainability cannot all be satisfied. Something has to give.
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#49You're asking the wrong question. You should be asking "Am I an efficient or effective programmer?" Do I get things in on time / under budget? Do I avoid common programming pitfalls? Do I solve more problems than I create? Do I see simple solutions to complex problems? Can I refactor terrible code to more easily maintained code? Can I avoid terribly written code in the first place? Can I effectively communicate with…
> You're asked for help often. Could also mean you write unreadable code and, by extension, unmaintainable code. > You're the go to person by the boss. Could also mean you write unreadable code.
> Could also mean you write unreadable code and, by extension, unmaintainable code.
In this situation, I think the context is when a colleague is asking for help with their own code/writing a new feature and wants input from someone well-versed.
Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?
#50There are many ways to quantify how good of a programmer you are. - You can compare yourself to other developers (there are plenty of qualities to compare) - You can review your statistics (commit frequency, average file size, accuracy of time estimates) - You can compete in programming competitions - You can evaluate yourself using the Programmer Competency Matrix: https://sijinjoseph.com/programmer-competency-matri…
Wow, this competency matrix is very useful. Thanks for sharing!