Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#31

Post by bb88 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 12:55 AM UTC

You'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 people in order to get the answers I need without wasting their time with needless questions?

Then you know you're effective when:

  You're asked for help often.
  You're the go to person by the boss.
  You're often asked for your opinion for engineering decisions.
  Your opinion holds weight with others.

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#32

Post by Ancient » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 12:56 AM UTC

Check out: https://github.com/mtdvio/every-programmer-should-know

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#33

Post by clueless123 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 12:56 AM UTC

Somewhere I read a measure of intelligence is: the ability to achieve your objectives efficiently. You could say the same about coding. Are you achieving your coding objectives efficiently?

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#34

Post by shay_ker » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 12:59 AM UTC

> But as a programmer at work, I often receive feedbacks from 1 or 2 persons at most

Oof, yeah, that's rough. It's hard to say something conclusive with little data, and most of the data is likely biased (yourself). I'd recommend finding opportunities to work with other devs. Open source is a good path forward.

Otherwise, estimating your performance is super hard. Are you right more often than you're wrong? When you're wrong, do you consistently fix your flaws? Are you learning? Are you contributing more and more business value? These are all very opaque questions, and even if you answer all of them you're likely to have gaps.

Get more data!

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#35

Post by alex- » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 1:02 AM UTC

If your employer is happy with your performance then you are probably "good enough" as you say.

However if you truly do always want to be improving your ability as a software engineer, then you are in luck, this field is so vast and deep that you can easily spend more than a lifetime improving! Finding out how and measuring it is another matter.

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#36

Post by redleggedfrog » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 1:03 AM UTC

todd3834 wrote: post #26

My favorite definition of a “good” programmer is someone who ships! Done is better than perfect. Knowing what compromises to make in order to ship without creating a future nightmare.

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 it. That's why I got the job. Usually we start over.

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#37

Post by sys_64738 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 1:05 AM UTC

Would you hire yourself?

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#38

Post by jarfil » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 1:08 AM UTC

When you maintain a piece of code, that only you have written, for a couple of years, and making changes to it is as easy as the first day, then you're a good programmer.

If every change to the code feels like adding another twist to the maze, then you're not a good programmer.

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#39

Post by Hbthegreat » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 1:09 AM UTC

bb88 wrote: post #31

You'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

Re: Ask HN: As a programmer, how do you know if you're a good one or not?

#40

Post by sys_64738 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 1:09 AM UTC

redleggedfrog wrote: post #36

todd3834 wrote: post #26

My favorite definition of a “good” programmer is someone who ships! Done is better than perfect. Knowing what compromises to make in order to ship without creating a future nightmare.

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.