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Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

mat-mcloughlin.net

61–67 of 67 posts

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#61
I fall into this "Dark Matter Developer" in more than one way.

On the social front: I go to, on average, one half of one work-related conference per year (real world, I go to one conference every other year). I have no use for twitter, facebook, linkedin, or any other "social network", preferring instead old-school forums and the occasional aggregator like HN where the signal-to-noise ratio is quite a bit better. I have a personal blog, updated every few months, that rarely touches on anything tech related, and is read primarily by friends.

On the tech front: I write code, in part, for decade+ old systems, and the rest with old-fashioned, plain-jane java. I write code that will never be used anywhere else, in languages that are neither new, "cool", or "hip" in any way. I keep somewhat up-to-date with big-picture new tech, but I see no reason to delve into any details if it doesn't relate to my work. I enjoy what I do, and the problem solving that goes into it.

I have, perhaps, fallen out of love with the field, and the industry. Perhaps I never had a passion for writing code, preferring instead the theoretical challenges I found while pursuing my degree in computer science.

What I do have: A life away from work, and away from computing. I'm in the middle of a multi-year "bootstrapping" of my own "start-up" -- one that has absolutely nothing to do with computing, and instead has everything to do with my love of woodworking. It should, with effort, provide a secondary source of income for as long as I wish. If I'm extraordinarily lucky, I may be able to make it my primary source of income at some point. There will be no VCs, no big-payout exit. Yet I consider myself just as much of an entrepreneur as any of the silicon valley crowd -- simply one with different goals and a different market in mind.

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#62
post #19
post #5

I am always amazed that people who blog, tweet etc. a lot think they are somehow "pushing things forward". Actually, it's people who write a lot of working code who push things forward. Maybe they blog too, but maybe not. Tweeting and blogging does not mean you are productive or on the cutting edge of anything meaningful.

Fabrice Bellard doesn't have a twitter, doesn't blog, and maybe doesn't go to conferences. But he's done more than most who have, almost certainly. His wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrice_Bellard

Yep, one of my coding heroes.

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#63
The interesting thing is that when I was being loud and focusing on driving traffic to my blog to showing off my shiny new things, I was probably producing my worst and most unimaginative work.

Now, as a 'dark matter' engineer, I don't have the time to write technical blog material nor do anything that would classify me as a 'matter' engineer. The great tragedy is that I'm producing my best work with real world impact.

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#64
post #38

>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…

Yeah... the last paragraph kinda ruined it. Why the arrogance? I thought greatness brings with it a humility in people. You already made the point that new techs don't seem to cut it like the mature ones (2nd para). So why ruin a perfectly good comment?

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#65
post #61

I fall into this "Dark Matter Developer" in more than one way. On the social front: I go to, on average, one half of one work-related conference per year (real world, I go to one conference every other year). I have no use for twitter, facebook, linkedin, or any other "social network", preferring instead old-school forums and the occasional aggregator like HN where the signal-to-noise ratio is quite a bit better. I h…

Tell me more about this wood work startup. Does it have a website? I am genuinely interested

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#66
post #38

>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…

Since I can't edit it, I'll just say that both of the responses below mine are correct in that I shouldn't have made the last paragraph so snarky. I meant that we don't jump on the latest bandwagon technology because there's often a better, more mature one already out there.

Re: Dark Matter Developers != Bad Developers

#67
post #61

I fall into this "Dark Matter Developer" in more than one way. On the social front: I go to, on average, one half of one work-related conference per year (real world, I go to one conference every other year). I have no use for twitter, facebook, linkedin, or any other "social network", preferring instead old-school forums and the occasional aggregator like HN where the signal-to-noise ratio is quite a bit better. I h…

Tell me more about this wood work startup. Does it have a website? I am genuinely interested

It's just a small, local signmaking business. No web presence; currently relying on word of mouth to keep the workload low enough that I can still meet expectations -- quality and deadlines -- while working out of my garage and working my software development job full-time. I'm also, slowly, getting into wooden canoe & kayak building; if I can successfully turn that into a profitable product line, I'll be thrilled.
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