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Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#41

Post by billswift »

revorad wrote: post #15

Visitors to this country are often surprised to find that Americans like to begin a conversation by asking "what do you do?" I've never liked this question. I've rarely had a neat answer to it. But I think I have finally solved the problem. Now, when someone asks me what I do, I look them straight in the eye and say "I'm designing a new dialect of Lisp." I recommend this answer to anyone who doesn't like being asked…

>The conversation will turn immediately to other topics.

Maybe among other programmers who aren't much interested in lisp, but most people are more likely to ask "What's Lisp?"

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#42

Post by derefr »

PaulJoslin wrote: post #39
mryall wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What really annoys me, is when people respond with 'Oh right, I.T.' or 'I have a friend who does I.T. too, yeah he fixes computers at... ' You shouldn't let this get to you. These people are just trying to relate to you based on this new information. To someone outside an industry, most people in it can appear to do the same thing. Just think: how many types of airplane mechanics/portrait artists/theoretical physic…

I understand this. I just smile when they make the comparison, after all at least they are caring enough to ask and listen. - On a similar note, the word 'Hacker' on this forum, generally refers to someone who lives and breathes code. However, outside of this community many refer to the term 'Hacker' as being a malicious person. Therefore, whenever I have mentioned the 'Hacker News' community to anyone in my professi…

Perhaps localize the name to "Boffin News"?

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#43

Post by derefr »

ohyes wrote: post #40

I sit in a a beige cubicle at a computer, and I type. Mostly I write computer code. In the afternoon I drink a lot of coffee to keep me from nodding off. Sometimes I talk on the phone or answer e-mails, other times I train people to use the software that we make. When I am asked at a party, I put more emphasis on what the software that I work on does than what I do at work. Programmers are literally minded, we often…

Well, the problem here is that there are two types of people you'll make smalltalk with—those who you will eventually form a working relationship with (1%), and those you won't—and the two groups have separate "best solutions," but are hard to differentiate beforehand.

You can outright lie to the 99%, if you think that will help—but whatever you tell the 1%, they'll go on believing when you work with them.

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#44

Post by dreaming »

I build jobs to pull stuff out of databases, transform it, then dump it in others. Also I deal with a kinda slow, proprietary GUI tool with a little bit of immediate power, followed by a deeper lack of ability to make changes to the 'visual code' in batch, amongst other complaints. I'd rather be in vim...

Short answer: "I'm in IT"

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#45

Post by derefr »

mahmud wrote: post #33

By the time the career question comes up I have already asked them about theirs, shared with them what I know about it, and "thought out loud" about what I think is most difficult/interesting/new about their industry, that they think I am a peer or an insider. We all know something about every industry and every line of work, or at least have the interest to inquire about it (if not for anything else, because we're c…

What do you do when you meet someone who preempts you with the same approach?

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#46

Post by Zev »

derefr wrote: post #42
PaulJoslin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand this. I just smile when they make the comparison, after all at least they are caring enough to ask and listen. - On a similar note, the word 'Hacker' on this forum, generally refers to someone who lives and breathes code. However, outside of this community many refer to the term 'Hacker' as being a malicious person. Therefore, whenever I have mentioned the 'Hacker News' community to anyone in my professi…

Perhaps localize the name to "Boffin News"?

Innocuous News!

(see: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=575815)

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#47

Post by Zev »

psadauskas wrote: post #34
Zev wrote: post #4

Depends who I'm talking to. If its someone at college (say, at a party), I say that I play with my iPhone all day. If they ask for clarification, that I make iPhone applications. Usually at this point, whoever I'm talking to will say something like "So you write stuff on the computer for the iPhone?" and I nod. The alternative is usually "Software Engineer" or "iPhone Developer", depending on where I am and how speci…

Whenever I mention I work on iPhone apps, the person I talk to always has an amazing idea for an app, and thinks I should write it for them.

I get that too. I ask what the idea is, and then find some innocent-sounding reason to point out why I wouldn't be a good person to make it, rather than saying I'm not interested or I don't have the time. If the app exists, I'll tell them about it.

Either way, people are happy that they had the chance to talk about their idea and I'm not stuck doing something that I don't want to do.

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#48

Post by paulbaumgart »

ohyes wrote: post #40

I sit in a a beige cubicle at a computer, and I type. Mostly I write computer code. In the afternoon I drink a lot of coffee to keep me from nodding off. Sometimes I talk on the phone or answer e-mails, other times I train people to use the software that we make. When I am asked at a party, I put more emphasis on what the software that I work on does than what I do at work. Programmers are literally minded, we often…

That's a very good insight. Mentally translating the question into "What problem are you currently trying to solve and why should I care?" can make for much more interesting conversation.

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#49

Post by mahmud »

derefr wrote: post #45
mahmud wrote: post #33

By the time the career question comes up I have already asked them about theirs, shared with them what I know about it, and "thought out loud" about what I think is most difficult/interesting/new about their industry, that they think I am a peer or an insider. We all know something about every industry and every line of work, or at least have the interest to inquire about it (if not for anything else, because we're c…

What do you do when you meet someone who preempts you with the same approach?

"Like everyone else, I hunch over a laptop and send emails all day :-) We're slaves to the machine, my friend, and I have done my part to enable them."

Really, I don't do anything in particular, I just project my inner paradoxical mix of shame and pride in my short, eventful but otherwise checkered career as a jack of all trades.

Re: Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? Developer? Engineer?

#50

Post by ciupicri »

jayliew wrote: post #31
ciupicri wrote: post #7

Programmer. Works every time. No one has ever asked me to explain what it means.

My biggest pet peeve, which perhaps is my own bias is that when someone says "programmer", I take it that they pretty much know how to use an if statement, loops, call functions, but that's it. You can hire people on Rentacoder and elance with that skillset for I guess "programmer" doesn't capture the bulk of the value of someone with a computer science background. But maybe there's my problem. Non-techies probably e…

You are right when you say that programming sounds like a fraction of the big picture, but there are good and bad programmers.

Also, I don't know how things are in other countries, but in Romania when you hire someone, the contract must specify an occupation from a national list. Most labor contracts that I know of, use "programmer", not "developer" or "engineer".

By the way, there were some problems a couple of years ago with a few jobs imported from Western countries. If I remember correctly, two of them were "credit officer" and "key account manager".

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