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Don't Call Yourself a Programmer

kalzumeus.com

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Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer

#2

Post by _ouxp »

I spend a bit too much time on HN, as evidenced by the timing of this post, and one of the dangers I've noticed is that I can become so fascinated with the interesting things other hackers are doing that I lose perspective on how valuable & relatively rare my combination of skills are. I suspect this is true for others here.

Patrick gives insanely valuable advice for hackers who could be both create more value and capture more of it by being aware of the big picture & the motivations of others.

Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer

#5

Post by xarien »

Fantastic post. I'd also recommend any "programmers" to invest a couple years in a systems integration engineering role as well. It's generally a great place for picking up some skills many programmers / engineers lack:

* Communicating with internal and external customers

* Understand systems from a broader (higher level) perspective

* Ability to translate wants and needs to technical requirements and specifications that are implementable

* Ability to sell yourself as well as the product / service

* Give constructive criticism as an internal customer to programmers / software engineers (great chance to view the role @ 180 degrees)

Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer

#8

Post by credo »

>>"Programmer" sounds like "anomalously high-cost peon who types some mumbo-jumbo into some other mumbo-jumbo." If you call yourself a programmer, someone is already working on a way to get you fired.

I call myself as a programmer because I enjoy programming and do a lot of programming as part of my job.

It is unlikely that I'll get fired because I run the (tiny) company I work for :). and customers seem to like the products we sell in the app stores.

Prior to starting this company, I was a Principal Development Manager,SDE Lead and Software Design Engineer at Microsoft. Describing myself as a programmer or a developer didn't hurt me there either.

This is not to say that Patio doesn't make a good case about the need to focus on value created. Regardless of profession, you have to focus on the value you create. A doctor saves lives, a construction worker builds homes, a pilot takes people home etc.

It is definitely possible for all of them to use MBA-speak mumbo-jumbo job-titles to describe what they do. Alternately, one could be a bit more of a plain-speaking, straight-talking person and just say that you're a doctor or a programmer or a pilot etc.

Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer

#10

Post by kennywinker »

credo wrote: post #8

>>"Programmer" sounds like "anomalously high-cost peon who types some mumbo-jumbo into some other mumbo-jumbo." If you call yourself a programmer, someone is already working on a way to get you fired. I call myself as a programmer because I enjoy programming and do a lot of programming as part of my job. It is unlikely that I'll get fired because I run the (tiny) company I work for :). and customers seem to like the…

It's a very business oriented article.

E.g. "You’re in the business of unemploying people. If you think that is unfair, go back to school and study something that doesn’t matter.)"

I for one have created more jobs than I've destroyed in my coding career. By building a business, as you've done, you're going in the opposite direction of this kind of sentiment.

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