More Than a Hoodie: How We Talk About Developers (medium.com) 169
An anonymous reader shares an article: For generations, movies, video games, and tv shows have portrayed the developer as either an awkward hoodie-wearing nerd, or an insane and menacing basement dweller (or both). From Ace Ventura to Silicon Valley, everyone has had their chance to portray the developer. Few actors do this with the same grace they'd reserve for a role portraying a doctor. [...] I think it's time for all of us to try and elevate our understanding of what a developer is. If you are a tech company who markets to developers, or is hoping to hire developers this is doubly true. So, how should we talk about developers? First, we should talk about how important their work is. Programming is one of the fastest growing industries in the world as it serves a role in every part of society. Developers maintain and build critical parts of our infrastructure. Second, we need to talk about the craft of what they do... we need to show more code. Every developer may use a different set of tools, but across the board their craft is evolving at increasing rates. [...] I think we can drop developer stereotypes all together at this point. It's a job people know -- it's time to add some vitamins to that kool-aid. After all, we're just like lawyers, librarians, electricians and cab drivers... we're just people, totally unique and different people. But if there is one thing that unites us, it's a unifying desire to build new things, improve old things, learn when we can and avoid being stereotyped. It's as simple as that.
More Amusing than that... (Score:2)
I've never known a single developer who could get away with wearing a hoodie in an office, and I've worked at quite a number of offices over the years during my contractor days.
What I find more amusing that the Basement dwelling Cheetovore programmer is the Hacker extrordinaire character in movies.
The guy who can log into any web site- and after only observing it for a few seconds can hack into it by pecking at 5 characters on his keyboard. From there it opens up the backend. So many movie have a similar
Re:More Amusing than that... (Score:5, Informative)
I know lots of places where a developer can and has worn a hoodie to work. This includes my current office. A good rule of thumb is, the stricter the dress code - the less competent the management is. The hiring process is probably worse.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know about that. The least strict place I've worked (could wear any pants or jeans, just not shorts. Tshirts were acceptable if they were plain didn't have any graphics or words on them) was also the most incompetent. The place I work now is comparable to the last 5 or 6 places I've been, slacks and a shirt with a collar and is probably the most competent place I've been.
Re: (Score:1)
>Tshirts were acceptable if they were plain didn't have any graphics or words on them
That's probably stricter than requiring developers to wear white shirts & a solid color tie.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: More Amusing than that... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I am on the East Coast which probably explains the difference. I wouldn't dream of going to a job interview without a suit on.
Another thing that might make a difference, the last time I worked for a software company was around Y2K, since then I've worked at banks, and the offices for factories, and hospitals and other places where the general workforce had to dress semi-neat so they made the developers dress semi-neat too.
The one difference is techies- the people that deal with the hardware, and lugging pe
Re: (Score:2)
You may want to wear a suit for the first interview, but scope out what people are wearing. For later interviews, you probably want to be on the classy end of that. The problem with a suit is that it can give the first impression of someone who cares about appearance rather than competence.
Dressing for success isn't a simple list of rules. You have to adjust your clothes according to the people you're going to interact with.
Re: (Score:2)
I work in New York. Unless you're in finance, this isn't true. Even then, its mostly not true. Not even the CEO wears a suit.
Re: (Score:2)
I work in New York. Unless you're in finance, this isn't true. Even then, its mostly not true. Not even the CEO wears a suit.
I bet the CEO does for an interview. Which is the only time most people wear a suit here.
Re: (Score:2)
Nope. Never had anyone come in to an interview in a suit, not even on sales side. Like I said- maybe big finance or legal. My friends at hedge firms don't even wear suits.
Re: (Score:2)
Must be a Southern thing then. I've worn a suit to every interview I've been on in the States. Everyone I've seen come in for an interview has always worn a suit. Honestly, even though I think dress codes are silly (well... with certain obvious exclusions), because everyone wears a suit for an interview here; if I were interviewing and someone didn't show up with one on, I'd probably draw conclusions about "lack of effort" etc... because it is the norm. If I lived where apparently a lot of you slashdot
Re: (Score:2)
These days, a business casual dress code probably means cubicles. Hoodies and headphones probably means "flex space" open-concept.
Both managers are likely equally incompetent, but I'll wear a shirt with a collar if it means I get a cubicle and some quiet.
Re: (Score:2)
A good rule of thumb is, the stricter the dress code - the less competent the management is. The hiring process is probably worse.
Counterpoint: IBM's glory days.
Re: More Amusing than that... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yep. I wear a hoodie all the time to work.
I never understood the hate directed towards hoodies. They are an especially utilitarian piece of clothing, which allows one to protect oneself from the elements without needing the added accessory of a hat. In an office you can remove it, but it's much more comfortable than a suit jacket.
Re: (Score:2)
Mostly because that hood that protects you from the elements is also pretty good at protecting you from being identified unless you're staring straight into a camera, giving hoodies a link to criminal activity that makes people uncomfortable.
Obviously that's not the main use for hoodies, probably not even close. But thanks to movies and TV playing it up to 11 over the past couple of decades, the association has gotten fairly deeply ingrained in society.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I have not seen hoodies at work, ever, even on casual Fridays. The dress codes in California are very lax, tee-shirts are normal attire, even by some CEOs. But hoodies are not something you see often. Maybe at the sorts of jobs where a developer is someone who creates content, or a startup run by frat buddies as their first job, but not at a real company.
Re: (Score:2)
I've never known a single developer who could get away with wearing a hoodie in an office
I'm a developer wearing a hoodie in my office right now, while I work on some accounting reporting software. In fact, I think there's only been one job in my 24 year career where I couldn't dress this casual.
Re: (Score:1)
Same here. Although I don't usually dress up in a hoodie. I prefer more casual clothes. Cargo shorts and a t-shirt and some sneakers. In summer those will be swapped for slippers. This in a (non-US) Fortune-500-like company.
Re: (Score:2)
The polo shirt is becoming more acceptable in the South East now. When I first started here it was rather fringe whether it was accepted or not instead of a button down. A polo made you stand out as looking casual. Now, polos are very common, I'm even beginning to see people start wearing those polyester wicking polos that look very un-business like... so things are changing even in the South East.
Let's look at photos of real software developers. (Score:1)
Instead of speculating about what software developers might look like, let's look at some actual photographs of actual software developers.
The Rust programming language contributors list [github.com] is a good place to start.
Although not every developer has uploaded a photograph, many of them have.
Let's look at some examples.
This is what an actual software developer looks like. [githubusercontent.com]
This is what an actual software developer looks like. [githubusercontent.com]
This is what an actual software developer looks like. [githubusercontent.com]
This is what an actual software develop [githubusercontent.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Why are they all white?
Re: (Score:2)
But most of my coworkers aren't white. I was just curious if this was an accident or some kind of subliminal advertising for white power.
Re: (Score:2)
This is a site for nerds, rude square.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My employer has given us multiple hoodies over the years complete with company and/or product logos.
Re: More Amusing than that... (Score:4, Insightful)
I work in a hedge fund, most developers, managers, traders and directors occasionally wear hoodies.
Regardless of what job you do, if you spend 10 hours of your day at a desk, what matters is being comfortable.
Re: (Score:2)
I've never known a single developer who could get away with wearing a hoodie in an office
I have never worked in any office where anyone cares what the developers wear.
Re: (Score:2)
I have, but it was over twenty years ago, and I didn't like that job anyway.
Re:More Amusing than that... (Score:4, Insightful)
I am more a hardware and network support tech than a programmer or developer, but I wear a hoodie ALL the time at work because my lab is Fsck'n freezing. The temp is set for the equipment not me which is fine, and as a bonus it keeps most everyone else out. I keep a couple extra micro fiber pull overs for the CE's and other hardware folks that come and visit occasionally. I feel sorry for the female techs that have to endure the arctic support lab as folks commonly refer to it. Despite the stereotype I deal with quite a few female techs from RH and M$ to IBM and EMC.
Re: (Score:2)
Why a hoodie though? Is this an east coast thing? It looks uncomfortable. I got one as a present once and hated it. Too tight, with an annoying flappy thing hanging down the back. Give me a plain jacket or sweat shirt, but the hood part is just dumb. If you're somewhere cold, why not really wear something warm; is that hoodie really going to help if it's raining or snowing compared to a jacket?
Re: (Score:2)
Actually I just used hoodie from the person I responded to. I wear a plush warm microfiber pull over. No zipper to lay on, and as a bonus I slide across the raised tiles like a curling stone on ice. The lab is a normal 68F(20C) regardless of outside temp so in the summer in California you run the real risk of getting sick from the drastic temperature change. I could wear a hoodie if I wanted to, but security would make me pull the hood down at the lobby, upon access to the equipment floor where the lab is l
Re: (Score:2)
I used to wear a hoodie all the time even though I was in khakis and a dress shirt... The office was always cold.
Depends a lot of regional culture (Score:2)
I've never known a single developer who could get away with wearing a hoodie in an office, and I've worked at quite a number of offices over the years during my contractor days.
I'm in the office right now, wearing a hoodie, with the hood up because the AC is blowing on my ears. I'm a software engineer, and lead on my project at a company with 10,000 employees. I primarily design Linux device drivers and help validate new silicon designs before it goes into manufacture (tape-out).
Re: (Score:2)
17 year career. Never had a dress code. Never heard of a company other than IBM where there was one. Unless you're in a very specific financial, I'm just calling bullshit.
Now I don't know many people who wear hoodies- too warm in a heated office. Jeans or shorts and a tshirt are the norm.
Keep Dev Socially Unappealing (Score:5, Insightful)
I prefer we keep the stereotype of software development as a socially unappealing career, not a job welcome in high society like doctors and lawyers (more like the better-paid-after-insurance vets and dentists). Two reasons.
The less appealing the field is presented as, the lower the supply of labor, and thus the more I'll be paid.
Also, the less appealing the field is presented as, the more it will be populated by people actually interested in problem solving, instead of people pressured by parents to pick this career as the best option, as is the norm in India (and the norm for doctors and lawyers here).
I'm quite content to be seen as socially awkward, but be well paid and work with the right crowd.
Re: (Score:1)
he looks like a potato-faced millennial faggot w/ bitch tits
Re: (Score:2)
I'm paid more than basically any "real" engineer. Sure, there's a glass ceiling, but that's more about not being an MBA than anything else. And it's a high ceiling.
Has anyone seen the movie, "Snowden"? (Score:3)
"Dark matter" programmers (Score:5, Insightful)
I ran across a blog many years ago that made a good point about programmers: while many of us are keeping up with the joneses on the who's who and what not, the vast majority of software developers are just ordinary people. They drive their ordinary Camry or Accord to work in an office with ordinary cubicles, go home to the suburbs and play with their kids and spouses, do soccer on saturdays, etc. They don't do meetups, conferences, seminars, or follow the latest blogs or programming fashions. They just do their work, go home, and live their lives. The blog called them the "dark matter" programmers because they are the vast majority of working software developers out there, but you'd never know it because they're too busy living life and not living code.
Re: (Score:2)
If you take the bus you don't have 14 hours left in a day to work!
Inaccurate portrayal in the movies (Score:5, Funny)
Dress for success (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't mean to be rude but working in IT I have found that dress in the office is very important. I never wear jeans or casual cloths even when all my peers do, why? Because the bosses don't. The people who I need to take me seriously dress and behave professionally so I do the same. It makes a HUGE difference, especially when working with business people outside IT or development.
Re:Dress for success (Score:4, Insightful)
You must not be very good at your job if you are concerned about such dreck.
Re: Dress for success (Score:1)
Way to miss that AC's point. It's not about fashion, or what he thinks about it. It's about how management perceives him. And that's what separates professionals from amateurs. Professionals not only have the hard skills necessary to do the work at hand, they also have the soft skills necessary to fit in well with society at large.
Re: (Score:2)
I worked at Lockheed for awhile, in research labs. I had to wear slacks and white shirt. I would occasionally head over for a meeting at the main plant. One day a guy said "you must be from the labs". I asked how he knew and he said "because you don't have a tie". So ya, wearing slacks and white shirt and I still stood out as too casual...
Re: (Score:2)
I've met lots of professionals without good soft skills. I'm paid for software development. Aside from being able to get along, I figure soft skills are the job of other people in the company (like management and sales). A company that requires that its developers have good people skills and dress to impress will be hiring from a smaller pool, and probably missing out on the really good developers.
Re: (Score:2)
Shit dude, I am a skilled developer with soft skills, I get along with people all over the company (largish financial company), from upper management to phone support. I wear what I want and it's never held me back.
Re: (Score:2)
I used to go to work daily in the finest of homeless chic. I took pride in not giving a shit how I looked.
I developed a pretty hardcore drug problem, and my appearance began to get even WORSE. My work suffered during that time too, as well as my personal life.
When I cleaned up, I decided to try something a big different. I started wearing shirts and ties instead of ripped jeans and hoodies. Honestly, people began to take me a bit more seriously but that had little to do with it. It helped me separate m
Re:Dress for success (Score:4, Informative)
I don't mean to be rude but working in IT I have found that dress in the office is very important.
People who self-describe as "working in IT" these days are not software developers. Also, I suspect you're on the East Coast.
Here in big software companies on the West Coast, the uniform of almost all senior devs and managers is button-down shirt and jeans. T-shirt and shorts is OK if you're young (but at some point you're expected to move to grown-up cloths). Heck, even at the VP level, button-down shirt and jeans is the norm, unless meeting with a customer.
Wearing slacks marks you as fresh off the boat from India or China. Wearing a tie means everyone you meet will ask you "Can I help you? Are you looking for someone?"
Re: (Score:2)
Oh please. You're just not interested in that sort of development. Or, as you pointed out, It may not be in your area of the country. That doesn't preclude them from being developers.
Re: (Score:3)
"IT" is a vanishing career, and most people assume "help desk" when you say it. Sucks, but it's true. Software development engineer is a rapidly growing highly paid field. Both have plenty of international competition, but you're way more likely to be outsourced as "IT" then as a "software development engineer".
It's along the lines that a garbage man might describe himself as a "sanitation engineer", but someone with an engineering degree working on something sanitation-related won't describe himself as
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm, IT seems to mean "help desk" at most places I've been at. Maybe at a website oriented company there are IT people keeping up the production servers AND developing on them. But usually the backoffice servers I see may be administered by IT but developed on by people who aren't in the department labeled "IT". "Operations" isn't "IT" even if many of the skills overlap. The people creating software as products to sell or to put into hardware that is sold are not "IT" even if some IT people also do a lo
Re: (Score:2)
I'm 53 and wearing tee-shirts most of the time, polo/knit shirts at other times. Button up shirts tend to be loose fitting. I only tuck in a shirt when it's a wedding or funeral. But since they made me manager I did get some new shirts without holes in them. I should upgrade but people wouldn't recognize me if I did.
Re: (Score:1)
I don't need to put up a facade in order to be taken seriously. My work (and that of my co-workers) speaks for itself. It makes the company a lot of money and management seem to like that a great deal. Let them worry about the width of their peers necktie. Let us worry about making the thing that makes money.
If you don't add enough value to the company to be useful as-is, perhaps shrouding your incompetent in a suit might work. After all, management is full of people that like shiny baubles and might be imp
Re: (Score:2)
For my last interview, I dressed nice, but not too nice. The reason, I wanted to work for a company that judged an engineer based on their abilities and not on some stupid dress code. If they had said "Wow, nice work, but your dress code does not fit our culture", I would have happily walked away from the opportunity. But, instead they welcomed me because of my skill level. So I am happily employed at a company where I can wear hoodies and jeans :-)
I have previously worked at places where there was consta
Re: (Score:2)
Why is it so difficult for so many of you to dress like an adult?
Do you suddenly become incapable of doing your job if you look like a working professional? No? Then why complain?
If you've ever wondered why you don't get the respect you think you deserve at the office, look no further than your wardrobe. No only will people treat you better, you'll feel better about yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you care? Do I suddenly become incapable of doing my job if I don't happen to dress to your fashion sense?
If I want your respect, I'll consider wearing clothes you like. Otherwise, go do your job and let me do mine in all my scrubby comfortableness. Its not everybody's dream to be a middle manager.
Re: (Score:2)
If it matters so much to you, I am in no way lacking respect at my workplace (I report directly to the president of the company, and all that fun stuff). I have my own office, and never get questioned about budgets of projects. I get to wear what I want and I have a flexible schedule. I worked quite hard to get where I am at. I am not a slacker by any means. I have engineered many of the systems my company uses and brought them a lot of business by my work. My workplace can depend on me, and I have the fre
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like I touched a nerve. Like it or not, how you dress does influence how people see and interact with you. It also has an impact on your own sense of self-worth. (That's not controversial. Decades of research support that.)
Consider the following: On the day of a big legal case, your lawyer walks in to court wearing socks with sandals, basketball shorts, and a hooded sweatshirt. How would you react? Why do you think you would react that way?
How about this: You're in the hospital with your kid, wh
Re: (Score:2)
The snag comes if you look like you didn't even bother. Sure, if you have an hour notice for a sudden interview then you show up with what you're wearing. But when you see someone come in like they just grabbed whatever clothes were on the floor, it sends a strong signal of "I just don't care about you or your company, I'm only here so my parent/spouse doesn't complain about me being a slacker." With the very casual California dress code I'm still amazed that occasionally you see someone who takes it too
Re: (Score:2)
I remember once reading the advice at interview to dress at the maximum you'd be willing to work in every day. So if you're not willing to work in suit+tie every day then don't.
And it works for every industry. If you're interviewing to be a lumberjack, then you won't wear a suit+tie, but you would at least wear the jeans that don't have the grease stains on them.
And the only job I've worked at that insisted on suit+tie every day I didn't last at. I simply can't concentrate with a noose around my neck.
Re: (Score:3)
The people who I need to take me seriously dress and behave professionally so I do the same.
And if you're looking to move into their job, that's not a bad attitude to have. Personally, I'd prefer the "tech track" to the "management track." But that's just me--to each their own.
That said, a company I used to work for had the best dress code: "You must be covered from the shoulders to just above the knee in clothing of good repair."
No miniskirts. No spaghetti straps or tank/tube tops. No ripped jeans. Shorts were fine, but they had to go down to just above the knee--no daisy dukes or the like.
Re: (Score:2)
That said, a company I used to work for had the best dress code: "You must be covered from the shoulders to just above the knee in clothing of good repair."
I preferred the one that said: "Dress code: Dressed".
Grandma's boy (Score:1)
Then again stoners have had the same stereotype played in hollywood for over two decades. Have you ever seen Tommy Chong in "Cheech and Chong" I don't know any stoners that are actually like that, Thats because the actor Tommy Chong wasn't portraying stoners in
Dress is Statement (Score:3, Insightful)
So...this is coming from the perspective of someone who can count almost 30 years writing code, and managing folks who do, professionally, in a number of environments, and I realize that people entering the workforce today face different problems, but...
Coders, and IT people in general, historically have dressed down as a statement of power. This isn't a made up stereotype, and it isn't a lack of style. It is a deliberate way of asserting that they have special value to the business and that the normal rules do not apply. "You can't do what I do, and you can't simply replace me with a snappy dresser."
I've been hiring developers for more than a few years now and things haveâ changed. 10 years ago a good/confident young developer would show up in jeans. Now the younger folks come to developer interviews dressed like salespeople. I struggle not to perceive the way they dress as a lack of confidence in their abilities, to accept that they grew up during a recession and in a world where IT people are screened by know-nothing HR departments before they can even see a technical manager. I wouldn't dress the way they dress if interviewing for the jobs they want, but I started in a different era.
All of which is to say that some of the stereotypes are not without basis, and are not disparaging to the people who originated those stereotypes. They reflect a deliberate tactic to assert unique power in the business environment.
Re: (Score:3)
Coders, and IT people in general, historically have dressed down as a statement of power.
Not every IT position is able to sit at a desk all day, don't get wrong remote management is great and I've always used it when possible but it's not going to replace a hard drive. I've gone to work in boots, blue jeans, t-shirt, back support, and a tool belt before and I looked more like the maintenance man. I've also traced/ran hundreds of cat3, cat5, cat6 drops, done countless punch downs, built server cabinets, network racks... I've also done dozens of different jobs in the IT field from Desktop Adminis
Re: (Score:2)
First job I had they wanted the slacks and button up white shirt. Which was kind of a pain when you were carrying boxes, changing printer ink, installing tape drives, crawling through the ceiling dragging cable, and so forth. Those slacks would wear out fast compared to denim.
Re: (Score:2)
I've had that job where you work in a large office building (about 500 cubicles and offices) and end up being the entire IT department (Networking, Telecom, Sys Admin, etc...) unless there was an important client in the building I was in jeans. One time there was an electrical problem and I had to explain to them that I wasn't an electrician, I only looked like one.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There's a difference though -- complexity. The law doesn't change much from day to day so the stuff you use at your current job is basically identical to the stuff you used at your last job and will use at your next job, and has remained basically the same since you passed the bar.
Not to downplay lawyers -- the law is horrendously complex and ugly and they have to spend many years learning the ins and outs. But its mostly consistent across jobs and across time.
Software is neither. Within an organization,
Re: (Score:2)
I don't see this. I've been here over 30 years. For me and others I never saw it about power. Anyone who did was quickly shunned, no one like working next to the guy with the ego. *Nobody* was irreplaceable, there were people who could replace them. Instead it's about comfort. Ties suck, period. You used to have to deal with them in the past (or on the east coast), but once they aren't required then why wear them? Work was an extension of college, if you didn't wear ties in college then it made sense n
Ace Ventura? (Score:2)
From Ace Ventura to Silicon Valley, everyone has had their chance to portray the developer.
I haven't seen it, admittedly, but I thought Ace Ventura had a different job. Something about pets?
Doesn't make sense. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Our developer ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Dressing better than the CEO... (Score:2)
preH1B, dotcom era, sure. Not anymore. (Score:2)
Back in the 1990s and 2000s, sure, a dot-com programmer wore cool T-shirts, flip-flops, and enjoyed unlimited sodas. It was at the two dot-coms I worked at, back in the day.
Then, once H1B took over, it is now usually a bunch of very polite, mostly quiet, dress shirt + slacks and a belt, types. At least, it seems to be this way now, at the Confidential National Service Provider that I have worked at, for the past 10yrs or so.
amateurs or professionals? (Score:2)
After all, we're just like lawyers, librarians, electricians and cab drivers.
Developers are nothing like lawyers (at least, not in my country). Lawyers and other professionals belong to chartered, professional, bodies that uphold standards of behaviour and work-product.
If you want to see IT professionals portrayed as professionals they would need to act in a professional manner. One that instills confidence in their ability, one that stops "amateurs" from being indistinguishable from career IT people - either in approach, quality of work or social standing.
Re: (Score:2)
You do realize that suits make it easier for amateurs to pass as professionals. I can look like a lawyer fairly easily, and I can fake an air of authority.
Just google "hacker" and see what comes up ... (Score:2)
Argumentum ad absurdum (Score:2)
But if there is one thing that unites us, it's a unifying desire to build new things, improve old things, learn when we can and avoid being stereotyped
So you're describing the new developer stereotype?
And it is better this way (Score:2)
Seriously, developing is not very exciting to the casual audience. You are not going to make a movie about a totally unremarkable guy fixing misaligned text. And even if we take the most excited stuff, like a rocket engine control software, the development process is quite boring, probably even more so than the one involving misaligned text. It is tedious process with a lot of testing. And in case of emergency it becomes a tedious process with less testing and less sleep.
Characters are here to serve the plo
Re: (Score:2)
I've sometimes thought about how I'd look in a movie. Sitting there, staring at the screen, maybe moving my mouse wheel. Occasional bursts of typing. Sometimes flipping through different text displays. Staring at the screen some more. No visible results.
Doctor Not (Score:1)
We are not equivalent to doctors. Doctors spend a good deal of time in medical school, and have a licensing board overseeing them. For these reasons, at least, doctors are paid much more on average than developers. (The pay-off has to be good in part to compensate for the time in medical school.)
If you are a good enough coder, you don't even need a degree to be paid fairly well.
It's also difficult to outsource or visa-tize doctors because of the licensing process and their trade union. They have a degree o
Very ethnocentric (Score:2)
In my experience IT folks in Europe never even came close to this strange American stereotype.
Typical (Score:2)
it is not limited to programmers, but basically any profession representation is build on stereotypes.
Apparently (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I work out of a client lab, so I actually prefer the pizza and Coke option simply because I can grab a couple slices and get back to being productive. Sales and management may be able to get away with it more consistently, but their positions usually involve more relationship building than mine.
I'm also given timelines and deadlines generally shorter than those around me who are on the client's payroll, so I generally end up with less available waste time.
Re: (Score:3)
Well I don't know about you, but I think I need to write a GUI interface using VisualBasic to track the killers IP address!
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know about you, but "I'll write a CLI interface using ncurses to track the killer's IP address" doesn't have quite the same zing!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"name ANY other profession where professionals are given cutesy nicknames "
Scientists get called boffins a lot.
When people don't understand something they tend to denigrate the people who practice it even if its useful to them in the long run. And most people don't understand science or IT and so are intimidated by the people who do. Simple as that.
They might not understand much medicine either but because its their body its still something familiar plus doctors save lives so they get let off. Law - well it
Re: (Score:2)
Over all, your comment is pretty sucky, but I have overheard exactly that conversation many times. That and can Spiderman beat the Hulk.
Re: (Score:2)
I rely on my ability to figure things out with incomplete information. It can help to practice this in other situations.
Re: (Score:2)
I've got two questions for you:
1) Is this a bad thing? Do we really need to waste our top notch programming talent writing A-B tests? Cause somebody's gotta do it.
2) What's your alternative? Everyone throws around the idea of licensing software developers but the problem there is practicality. Again, somebody's got to be writing those A-B tests and if you drain out the people who's abilities don't really exceed that level of work, that means you'll be needing to waste your much more talented programmers
Re: (Score:2)
One problem with licensing software developers is that the profession is relatively new, and the tools change rapidly. It's also a creative process. The result is that it's hard to come up with a good licensing test.
Doctors are tested on knowing stuff about the human body, and we've been running with the same model since before we had doctors. Lawyers are tested on the law, and that changes slowly. In both cases, the testing is primarily of knowledge, perhaps with some apprenticeship. There is no la