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Discussion on: What things have you been made to feel guilty about in the course of your career?

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cathodion profile image
Dustin King

There's this image of the ideal programmer. Someone who invented a language, created a framework, creates all sorts of useful open source projects. They have strong opinions on everything, the more contrarian the better. Maybe they've invented a new concept that changes the way we think about software, and have their own buzzword. They go from one impressive-sounding job to another, or founded their own company. They may claim not to know where they're going, but they always know how to get there. They know all the other ideal programmers. They use a language that's sexier or more hardcore than yours.

I'm not that person. I used to think maybe I would evolve into that person, but so far it hasn't happened.

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

Hmm, part of that kind of sounds like my life...

I think you're confusing two classes of people though. A lot of the ideal programmers I know aren't doing it to make things great. They're doing it because they like doing, enjoy a challenge, and maybe can help somebody.

Alas, most technology ends up with adherents and fanboys that behave in less than favourable ways. You can't necessarily attribute that behaviour to the guy that created the stuff (sometimes you can).

This parallels virtually all human endeavours. If you play any sport somebody will bring up the name of somebody awesome. If you start any small business, somebody will bring up the techniques up some business mogul. Attempt to draw a picture: yup, somebody brings up some better way to do it.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Linus Torvalds fans have a lot in common with Justin Bieber fans. I recall reading the response to a somewhat tongue-in-cheek jab at the FOSS folks and the reaction was so extreme. Us humans love creating deities.