When can someone be considered a developer?

#1

Post by browsemybooks » Tue, Nov 02, 2010, 9:15 PM UTC

I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was looking for a developer for my startup and he replied "don't waste your degree, why not build it yourself?"

A bit of background: I have a CompSci degree. Am comfortable programming in multiple languages (c++, c#, java, python, php etc) and have built an enterprise level (web-based) application in the not too distant past. The problem is, I don't consider myself a developer. I've had a look at popular engineering interview questions (e.g. the ones from google, or microsoft), whilst I remember the concepts from my degree and can sometimes string together a semi-coherent answer, I'm usually stumped. I've always been more interested in the application of technology, as opposed to the tech itself. So once my degree was over, I became a corporate strategy analyst for a FTSE100 company (I'm based in England).

I've spoken with a number of CompSci guys that did something totally different after their degree (banking, consulting, fashion designer) as well as more techie guys. Nobody seems to be able to provide a coherent answer.

So, in my inaugural HN post, I ask, when can someone be considered a developer?

Re: When can someone be considered a developer?

#2

Post by sosuke » Tue, Nov 02, 2010, 9:32 PM UTC

I've been trying to be a developer for 12 years now and I've been paid for being a developer for 8 years and I still don't consider myself a real developer in the programming sense of the word. I have no college degree. I develop web applications for the most part and I'm almost never solving any unsolved problem but putting together Frankenstein applications and late at night screaming "IT'S ALIVE!" when I can run them without an error for the first time.

I figure one day I'll wake up and finally think I've made it, that I'm what I always thought a developer was and then I'll realized that there is still more to be done.

But if you must put a mark on it, a good developer can ship his product or piece of code, so you have a great background, open up your IDE of choice and start coding, eventually you'll get something you are ready to ship and then after you ship it keep fixing it because it won't be done until you say it is done but getting it out there is important.

Re: When can someone be considered a developer?

#3

Post by nsfmc » Tue, Nov 02, 2010, 9:35 PM UTC

This may not answer your question, but it reminds me of a time when i was talking to someone and i made some comment about how i was a pretty reasonable web developer and he quickly responded

"no, i think you misunderstand, you're a web developer when you know weird positioning bugs and javascript inconsistencies between browser releases. you probably don't want to be that person, or at least, probably not yet."

because the unspoken statement or it might have been actually spoken was "keep designing and working at a high level and find acute domain expertise elsewhere until you really want that level of knowledge."

and i think that when it comes to design, you really don't want too much domain knowledge. certainly you want some, but you don't want to be constraining your design before you've even made something. But you need it at some point, but i think, and this is the important part, that you know when you need it

Re: When can someone be considered a developer?

#4

Post by _b8r0 » Tue, Nov 02, 2010, 10:02 PM UTC

You're a developer when you have a piece of code that you've written is in production. Until that happens, you're a coder, a programmer, a bug monkey. When you have code in production, that code is something you developed. You are a developer. It's the difference between an aspiring writer and a published one.