Best quote -- "He’s now an angel investor (a polite synonym for “rich”)."
Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
51–60 of 274 posts
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#52Personally, I think this is an interesting article, and I got two things out of it: 1. Effective communication with people from various backgrounds is important. This is incredibly hard, and it does require practice. Those that succeed typically communicate very well. 2. I mentally replaced the "don't call yourself a programmer" mantra for "tell people why you're doing what you do - what problem do you solve and how…
I'm going to start reversing my elevator pitch. From now on I help save my company millions of dollars each year by enabling analysts to find and address operational inefficiencies in our national retail operations. Oh, and I do this by leading and implementing a range of business intelligence solutions using a suite of .NET-based BI and data warehousing tools.
I think I used to say something about programming web applications to generate numbers for middle managers to review.
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#53 Does anyone else think that this article is in poor form?
On the perils of describing yourself as a programmer: If you're hiring someone to provide a specific skill set (programmer) you want them to be good at programming. Would you hire an accountant if they didn't know accounting? Should lawyers not describe themselves as lawyers? Doctors as doctors?
On the perils of selling yourself as an expert in a certain technology: I spend a fair amount of my time learning about the specific technologies I use. I've been doing this for a while and I don't know everything about sql, postgres, mysql, mongodb, javascript, html, css, ruby, rails, unix, chef, capistrano. But I've put thousands of hours into these things and the tools themselves took thousands of hours to create. Either I'm really bad at learning, or there is a lot to learn there and that information makes me more valuable to potential/current companies. Sure, there is a baseline level of skill you can achieve in programming where you can not suck at most stuff but there is still a lot of valuable information that you don't know if you just half assed your way through a Beginning Ruby on Rails book.
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#54How jaded. Sounds rather like a "Guide to Success in High School" written by the guy that graduated with perfect grades but got his ass kicked every day. Well, not everybody gets their ass kicked every day. I absolutely cringe at the idea of a bright-eyed young programmer becoming prematurely jaded based on somebody else's experiences. "This post aspires to be README.txt for your career as a young engineer." Definite…
Whether or not a thing is true is orthogonal to whether or not you want the thing to be true.
I'm a new programmer but not new to business. He hit the nail right on the head for just about any profession (minus to the programming-specific bits).
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#55>Many people already successfully employed as senior engineers cannot actually implement FizzBuzz. Just read it and weep. Key takeaway: you probably are good enough to work at that company you think you’re not good enough for. They hire better mortals, but they still hire mortals.
This is one of the most important career lessons I've learned first-hand of late.
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#56I'm new to the startup game, and most of my hunches that Ive formed over the past 6+ months are proved true by this post. This is insanely good advice in this post, one of which involves modesty and confidence.
I'm never going to be modest from here on out and will act like a pompous douche when deemed necessary. I see people act this way ALL the time, and I figured people could see right through their bullshit. Apparently not, as it clearly does not matter if they are right - only if their bullshit is passable. Apparently being modest does not work to my advantage. I have no choice but to play the game.
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#57God is just. You'll earn what you are paid. I hear marriages between equals work best. I think one side or the other feels supirior and will dominate. I would guess your boss would treat you badly if you were overpaid, in his mind.
This reminds me of cheating in school or affirmative action getting into school -- do you really want to be in over your head? Think a step ahead. Cheating is a bad idea!
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#58How jaded. Sounds rather like a "Guide to Success in High School" written by the guy that graduated with perfect grades but got his ass kicked every day. Well, not everybody gets their ass kicked every day. I absolutely cringe at the idea of a bright-eyed young programmer becoming prematurely jaded based on somebody else's experiences. "This post aspires to be README.txt for your career as a young engineer." Definite…
I'm sorry to hear that. Well, you can become jaded in the normal course of events if you prefer. When that happens, remember that this article exists. It's good for tactics later, when you realize you can use it. I've been programming professionally for 15 years, and programming at all for almost 25 (now I feel old). I'm a fantastically skilled, experienced and versatile programmer, even for that experience level. I…
Not only that, but I am printing this article out and saving it to remind myself of how it really is and not to fool myself into ever thinking otherwise.
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#59Does anyone else think that this article is in poor form? On the perils of describing yourself as a programmer: If you're hiring someone to provide a specific skill set (programmer) you want them to be good at programming. Would you hire an accountant if they didn't know accounting? Should lawyers not describe themselves as lawyers? Doctors as doctors? On the perils of selling yourself as an expert in a certain techn…
You're letting other people determine your worth using their limited domain vocabulary and their suboptimal pattern matching abilities. A .NET programmer is a highly paid commodity, but a commodity all the same.
A high-tech value creator who thinks and talks in terms of profit drivers and cost sinks is not going to ever be a commodity.
Rather than striving to be the top of your class (e.g. Ruby devops guys, which is something HR can use a standardized pay scale for) you can strive to be unique in a one-person class that is more immediately profitable and scalable than a commodity programmer.
Re: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer
#60Enjoyed the post. Do programmers really not know who Peter Drucker is?
What language did he create?