I find developers with a github account admirable, but I never did contribute to open source at a day job, and while I'd like nothing more than give everything I do for myself away for free, the goal is to sustain myself stand in the way of that.
Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
41–50 of 67 posts
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#42Who thought that if a developer doesn't tweet that they are a bad developer?
People thought that? WTF.
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#43This is just passively-aggressively implying that dark matter developers aren't bad because they're inferior at coding, they're bad because they're inferior at being social.
Maybe I don't need to go to every Django convention ever to be a good programmer. Maybe I measure myself by different standards.
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#44This is the first I've heard the term "dark matter developer", but this type of developer definitely exists. There's probably equal numbers of those who are happy with their jobs as aren't, and who are brilliant as are mediocre. I imagine that the typical dark matter developer is more risk-averse than an "outgoing" developer (intentionally not using the term "regular" because outgoing developers are a vocal minority…
I also hadn't heard the term, but after reading this I realised I was a dark matter developer. I've given talks at a couple of conferences, but I've only ever contributed back to open source projects by opening issues and writing a couple patches. I've tried to convince my employer to invest time in contributing back, but I've never made it a priority in my personal life.
I wouldn't say that I'm more risk averse than other developers, but I have a healthy does of perfectionism that tends to get in the way of ever releasing anything. On some level I feel like I'll be judged for anything I put in the public eye if it isn't 100% perfect.
I recently went to my first meetup though, and everyone there was super friendly, so maybe I'll come into the light. :)
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#45As a dark matter developer, I'll tell you why I'm not more public:
I don't have enough time to maintain a decent blog. I could maintain a shitty one, but what's the point of that?
Join a community? I barely have enough time for HN as it is!
Stack Overflow? I contribute sometimes, but once again, it comes down to time. If you have the time, I applaud your contributions. As for me, I'll settle for answering maybe one question a month.
New tech? Sure, that's cool. But I really need to get my software to a working state, and that won't happen if I keep changing the technologies. I'd rather wait for a front runner to emerge before joining in.
Twiiter? No thanks. I get enough aggravation from email.
Meetups & conferences? I've gone to a few, but I've found that I can gain a far deeper understanding of a particular language/technology/paradigm through online articles or books.
About the only thing I leave any kind of footprint with is github, because coding is one creative outlet I can't live without.
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#46>They may still know the latest design patterns, tools and techniques just as well as you do. They just choose not to talk about it. I don't think this was the original "Dark Matter Developer" definition. If you read the original article ( http://www.hanselman.com/blog/DarkMatterDevelopersTheUnseen9... ), you will see that he specifically says they don't keep up to date. They just do what they know, go home at the en…
Not true. I'm a "dark matter" developer. I don't blog, I only use Twitter to keep up on sports, I only use Facebook to keep up with far away friends and family. I post something programming-related on Facebook about once a year. However, I know (and know that most of my fellow dark matter peeps know) the latest and greatest out there. We discuss it, take a look at it, and usually come to the conclusion of "been there…
>That's why you don't see us caring about some new javascript framework or RoR or Azure, or any other "new" (and usually unproven) technology. We're too busy kicking ass and finding beauty in mature, established languages and frameworks that actually have all the features (and then some) of "newer" technologies.
Comments like these saying 'Oh you are a stupid hipster using node/ror whatever' are basically in the same spirit as 'Oh I'm cooler than you because I use this and that and you are using Java' just the other way round. Thanks for your childish negativity and adding to unneeded stereotypes in the tech community. If you are one of those 'wise' devs that use what is mature and stable and whatnot instead of chasing new trends you should be smart enough to preach that all technologies have their use case and people should use the best tool for the job etc etc… but hating is fun, isn't it.
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#47As a dark matter developer, I'll tell you why I'm not more public: I don't have enough time to maintain a decent blog. I could maintain a shitty one, but what's the point of that? Join a community? I barely have enough time for HN as it is! Stack Overflow? I contribute sometimes, but once again, it comes down to time. If you have the time, I applaud your contributions. As for me, I'll settle for answering maybe one q…
Seconded. I've never gone to conferences though, but I've always felt I learn more via online sources and/or experience. I've been trying more Twitter recently, but honestly I think I'm giving more than I'm getting from it..
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#48" Just because somebody has a blog or a twitter account it doesn’t make them a good developer or expert. It just means they shout louder. " Exactly. 99.9% of developers' blogs aren't worth reading. They're full of articles like "I just wrote my first Go program, and here's what you should know about it!" Please, if I wanted to learn about Go, why would I read something that was written by someone who just admitted he…
> why would I read something that was written by someone who just admitted he knows almost nothing about it?
You are not the target market. Those posts exist for the same reason people create a Github account, but never contribute to open source projects. It shows exposure, and a history of interest, to interviewers who google you five minutes before the meeting. Everyone can argue the merits of different interview techniques and quality indicators, but, without a verifiable history of success, you have to start doing something to publicly show merit.
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#49This just seems wrong. You can be a contributer to the community but not the public community. You can contribute within your organization and still use the latest and greatest technologies if you choose. You can talk and collaborate on many development topics.
I work with other developers and we are constantly collaborating on ideas and technology. I don't believe that makes me a "Dark Matter Developer" because I don't share those conversations publicly.
Thoughts?
Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers
#50substituting "dark matter dev" with "introvert" i think we'd get to the very old and standard discourse.