Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

blog.hirelite.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–89 of 89 posts

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#81

Post by silentbicycle »

iskander wrote: post #72
nickdunkman wrote: post #17

It's just semantics. The term rock star was involved in the recruiting process of my current job, and those who used it included a great hands on CTO and a CEO with above average tech knowledge. I had no illusions as to some kind of huge salary or RIAA like treatment. It's cliche, yea. But sooner or later you'll miss out on a great opportunity if you run away when you see "rock star".

>It's just semantics. It's probably all the time spent on LtU mucking with my brain, but I have to suppress a minor rage every time I see this idiom. Does this happen to any other programming languages people?

"In popular culture, people like to say 'It’s just semantics!', which is a kind of put-down: it implies that their correspondent is quibbling over minor details of meaning in a jesuitical way. But communication is all about meaning [...], therefore, we will wear the phrase 'It’s just semantics!' as a badge of honor, because semantics leads to discourse which (we hope) leads to civilization. Just semantics. That’s all there is." -Shriram Krishnamurthi, _Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation_ (http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/200...)

In other words: Absolutely. (Good, free book, btw.)

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#82

Post by run4yourlives »

mayank wrote: post #68
michaelhalligan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it means I'm going to have to keep a large supply of cocaine and cheap whisky around the office.

Which might also be an effective recruiting tool. I used to sit next to someone who used to hit the restroom at 1pm every day, like clockwork, and come out reeking of whiskey. Also kept a bottle of Wild Turkey on his desk that slowly diminished. He wasn't fired, so I assume he was good and got his stuff done.

A functional alcoholic, to be sure.

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#83

Post by grammaton »

Whenever someone is advertising for "Rock Stars," I immediately have two thoughts:

1) Will they be paying me Rock Star money?

2) Oh great, another bunch of douchebag middle managers trying to sound trendy....

There is no way that they really want a rock star, i.e. a fussy, unreliable prima donna who won't work unless they get things their way. What they really want is a genius who's inexplicably dumb enough to work for median salary.

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#84

Post by baxter »

run4yourlives wrote: post #82
mayank wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which might also be an effective recruiting tool. I used to sit next to someone who used to hit the restroom at 1pm every day, like clockwork, and come out reeking of whiskey. Also kept a bottle of Wild Turkey on his desk that slowly diminished. He wasn't fired, so I assume he was good and got his stuff done.

A functional alcoholic, to be sure.

You're suggesting he was a Lisper?

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#86

Post by jph98 »

thenduks wrote: post #66
jph98 wrote: post #60

A rock star is somebody who plays in a rock band! There is no such thing as a rock star developer. It's a stupid stupid term. You have no inherent connection with rock music, you are not famous and don't have thousands of adoring fans. I'm convinced that a number of balding, pony tailed idiot developers and snotty college grads think they do - but you don't - get over yourself. Stop using the term, right, now, it's s…

What's the big deal? It's just a bit of fun. If one doesn't like the attitude that a 'rock star' job posting conveys then one should simply not apply.

No no, it's not the attitude it conveys, it's the attitude it encourages in the way developers act.

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#87

Post by thenduks »

jph98 wrote: post #86
thenduks wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the big deal? It's just a bit of fun. If one doesn't like the attitude that a 'rock star' job posting conveys then one should simply not apply.

No no, it's not the attitude it conveys, it's the attitude it encourages in the way developers act.

The title of a job posting does not encourage or influence the way I act... They're just trying to differentiate themselves from the mundane 'Java Developer w/ 2 years exp' jobs, that's all. It's really, really not a big deal. I'm really having a hard time understanding why everyone is so hung up on what is essentially marketing fluff. Can we please yell at people posting jobs with 'requirements' like "6 years of RoR" rather than some cute buzzword in the title?

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#88

Post by easp »

smokey_the_bear wrote: post #24

A Microsoft recruiter told me I was a rockstar after an internship interview in 2001. It felt awesome at the time. But now it sounds like a dated way to recruit 19 year olds.

In about the timeframe at MS, I remember stumbling upon a couple of living, breathing, but rarely bathing, young developer/gamer stereotypes being shown around one of the buildings in the Office division by two young, well, they looked like strippers dressed to appear in a porno as two hot "professional" women who let loose at the office.

Perhaps you were recruited by a related program?

Re: What developers think when you say "Rock Star"

#89

Post by smokey_the_bear »

easp wrote: post #88
smokey_the_bear wrote: post #24

A Microsoft recruiter told me I was a rockstar after an internship interview in 2001. It felt awesome at the time. But now it sounds like a dated way to recruit 19 year olds.

In about the timeframe at MS, I remember stumbling upon a couple of living, breathing, but rarely bathing, young developer/gamer stereotypes being shown around one of the buildings in the Office division by two young, well, they looked like strippers dressed to appear in a porno as two hot "professional" women who let loose at the office. Perhaps you were recruited by a related program?

Well, I'm female, so I wasn't recruited by strippers. But I did get to go to their 'Diversity Weekend' before my interview. They invited out about 30 college kids - women, minorities, and some white males who happened to be in the society of black engineers. They took us to a couple of dinners, saw some sights around Seattle, and we had a full day of mock interviews with real engineers where we got immediate feedback. I had a great time and the interviews were helpful.

Perhaps the event you saw was the sister event for their not-diverse recruits.

Post reply on HN