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Programming is a Super Power

programmingzen.com

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Re: Programming is a Super Power

#31

Post by hackinthebochs »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #30
acangiano wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About a month ago I wrote on Twitter: "Does your IT company provide drugs, alcohol, and groupies? How about katanas? No? Then you aren't hiring rockstars or ninjas." As you can see I'm the first one to be oppose to meaningless names. However the point of the article was not about labeling ourselves as super heroes. It was about inspiring new comers to take the plunge because programming, in this information age, allo…

Katana were too long for a ninja - they'd more likely use a Ninjato which was shorter... [Puts geek credentials away and gets back to the point] Yes programming is great and useful but I think super power is overstating it and is just meaningless, sightly immature hyperbole. If people want programming to be attractive and interesting to more people then they should possibly think about not using super hero, fantasy a…

I think the point is that the super hero meme is specifically targeting the group of people who are already aligned with much of your stereotypical "geek" culture. The difference is that nowadays there are so many avenues to take following this path that won't necessarily end up at programming. I think the point that cicero made here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2350004 is crucial.

There was a time where being "into" computers meant you inevitably became exposed to programming concepts and eventually dabbled in a bit of it. That's no longer the case. It's helpful to reach out to this group of potentials and show them how awesome it can be to bend the computer to your will. It's just a matter of speaking the language of the group you're trying to reach. I think the superhero metaphor is a good one.

Re: Programming is a Super Power

#34

Post by rickmb »

marcusbooster wrote: post #15
m0th87 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's along the lines of what most programmers do, and each defeat is chipping away at inefficiency. You're doing your part in the greatest productivity revolution in history :)

So something that could be done by anyone with a paper, pen, and the technical know-how to operate a ruler, is now replaced by someone with a specialized domain knowledge that is creating something that will need to be maintained and likely obsolete in a few years. And they call this progress.

The ultimate superpower of IT-consultants is the power to make people forget to ask the question "why?".

Re: Programming is a Super Power

#36

Post by m0th87 »

marcusbooster wrote: post #15
m0th87 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's along the lines of what most programmers do, and each defeat is chipping away at inefficiency. You're doing your part in the greatest productivity revolution in history :)

So something that could be done by anyone with a paper, pen, and the technical know-how to operate a ruler, is now replaced by someone with a specialized domain knowledge that is creating something that will need to be maintained and likely obsolete in a few years. And they call this progress.

Maybe the list is for a public event, and they don't want people to call in or come to the office just to add their names.

Maybe the list got too long and difficult to manage.

Maybe the maintainer of the list wants to search for specific people without scanning the entire list.

Maybe the maintainer wanted to be able to email attendants without manually entering all the names.

I don't know the specifics of the project, so perhaps you're right. My point was not specific to the project; I was simply trying to allude to the fact that you don't have to be writing the software for rocket ships for it to be useful and productive.

Re: Programming is a Super Power

#37

Post by jcromartie »

m0th87 wrote: post #9
qjz wrote: post #3

This week, I'm using my super power to replace a sign-up sheet in a clipboard that once hung on an office door. Is there any menial task I cannot defeat? I am Invincible!

That's along the lines of what most programmers do, and each defeat is chipping away at inefficiency. You're doing your part in the greatest productivity revolution in history :)

However I feel like our "productivity revolution" is for naught, when we still end up working ourselves to death and having no free time to show for it. Whatever happened to "computers will make our lives easier?" For whom? When does it pay off? When does the programmer get to rest?

Re: Programming is a Super Power

#39

Post by mcav »

jcromartie wrote: post #37
m0th87 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's along the lines of what most programmers do, and each defeat is chipping away at inefficiency. You're doing your part in the greatest productivity revolution in history :)

However I feel like our "productivity revolution" is for naught, when we still end up working ourselves to death and having no free time to show for it. Whatever happened to "computers will make our lives easier?" For whom? When does it pay off? When does the programmer get to rest?

Step into the 1970s, and try doing some of these things:

  - Professional-quality publishing (text, images, printing)
  - Sending text/images to your friend in another state
  - Looking up any kind of information (Library trip?)
  - Buying things that aren't at your local grocer (Mail-order?)
Try this experiment: Spend a week doing everything without a computer. How productive are you, compared to before? How often did you find yourself wishing you had a computer to help you?

Re: Programming is a Super Power

#40

Post by pjscott »

jarek wrote: post #26
khafra wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carpentry is a super power. Just about every girlfriend I've had has been very turned on by guys who can build things with their hands; my brother made a (successful) engagement ring out of 5 different kinds of Amazonian hardwoods that looked amazing. I think people like _why would agree that learning to create things, regardless of the medium, is so cool that it's like having a super power.

By this standard, pretty much anything that doesn't involve trivial desk job paper pushing is a super power. Bricklaying? Check. Welding? Check. Mech eng? Check. Digging ditches? Check. Everyone's special, Dash.

Bricklaying (and construction methods in general) let us build useful, comfortable buildings that protect us from the elements and let us build cities. Agriculture lets us feed our whole population; without modern agriculture we would have mass famine. And while we're on the subject of agriculture, there are some supporting technologies that we shouldn't forget; the Haber-Bosch process, for example, has the power to miraculously convert nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia that we can use as fertilizer, on an industrial scale. Without it, we would starve.

We take all this stuff for granted, but damn it, don't these count as super-powers?

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