Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
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Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#2I don't know why, but I find it amusing that people are so attached to their macbooks that they will even carry around full sized keyboards to replace the garbage keyboards on them instead of just buying a better laptop with a usable keyboard.
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#3There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothing special, anyone can do it. More and more people enter the work force every years. Since all things are becoming automated there will be enough jobs for the foreseeable future. We get to wear nerd clothes and act smart but generally all one has to do is be able to read documentation and use a computer. I would reckon that the average 13 year old who has a good reading comprehension can do what most programmers do these days. It's like playing a video game. They would probably be better at it too.
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#4There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothi…
What you describe does not look like the typical software developer job at all.
Certainly not anyone can write software. In fact, many who see themselves as "coders" are not very good at it themselves.
Edit:
I've found it's a bit similar to law in terms of skills and mindset. Some people struggle to follow the text of an actual law. Then, drafting an actual law is an even more specialised skill. In both software and law, if you draft badly you will face problems...
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#5There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothi…
try teaching. then you would be amazed at the tiny proportion of students able to do that on their own.
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#6Regardless of how accurate this portrait of programmer culture is, I must say that I welcome the attempt to create some positive PR.
Our fellow nerds, doctors and lawyers, somehow got star treatment by hollywood, while our kind is usually portrayed as unattractive, awkward, laughing stock and at best a passive character in an assisting role. This tragically reflects on our perception in the real world.
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#7There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothi…
try teaching. then you would be amazed at the tiny proportion of students able to do that on their own.
Exactly. As someone who has been asked to teach an IT technician friend how to program, it's absolutely not a trivial task. You would think the problem solving skillset of a technician would help, but nope.
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#8There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothi…
I have a friend who I consider to be tech savvy and very smart. He couldn't get "coding". Dropped the class and switched major (I know this is anecdotal). It's not for everyone [0]. I agree that it has gotten simpler, but it depends on what you're doing. Some developers "glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings" and some need to do a lot more than that.
[0]https://blog.codinghorror.com/so-you-dont-want-to-be-a-progr...
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#9There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothi…
> Nothing special, anyone can do it.
That's what I'm thinking every day while I'm working and talking to other developers.
But when I try to teach, or help non-coders who decide to take up coding, I am amazed every time to find out that there's one skill that I don't even think about that seems unteachable: structural thinking.
I can teach a person how to get an input from a user. I can teach a person how to process that input. I can teach a person how to present output to the user. I have not been able to teach a person how to decompose a task "calculate effective property tax rate" (or something similar) into those steps.
Re: Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
#10There's a lot of fantasy in this article. Most programmers today do very little actually - we don't wield major influence. We basically glue together a bunch of Free Open Source offerings. The most critical skill is that ability to move fast by practicing with our Free Open Source offering tools. We pay (MS, Google, or Amazon) to host our applications. And we perform maintenance on these applications for years. Nothi…
Speak for yourself.
If what you are doing can be done by a 13 year old, that is your reality.
What I do requires years and years of experience/study, and 90% of the 20 year olds cannot do it, and that is being very conservative.
Of course you are talking about the average developer. But your average health personnel aren't doctors, they are nurses or assistants. And there is nothing wrong with that.