What kind of programmer are you?

Published 15 July 6 12:6 PM | Ramon Smits
Jeff Atwood just posted a very interesting item titled Separating Programming Sheep from Non-Programming Goats in other words about how to find out if a person has enough potential to become a good developer.
Its a very interesting read but after reading his post I just compared it to math. You either:
  • get it because everything seems logical and all variations with formulas feel natural.
  • you know how to use a formula in a certain context but variations will get your head spinning.
  • you just don't see it and all formulas just look the same but the simple questions will be ok because you reminded them 1 on 1 in your lessons.
Translating this to software developers:
  • you are a real developer and are capable of creating your own frameworks without much input.
  • you know your bits and with good input the result will be good enough but not excellent (garbage in garbage out).
  • you can only live as a programmer with the help of google.com and codeproject.com.
So... what kind of developer are you :-)

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Comments

# Erwyn van der Meer said on July 16, 2006 11:05 PM:

Definitely the first kind. For both programming and math, of course ;)

# Patrick Wellink said on July 17, 2006 12:00 AM:

Well i PITY those who think they are nr 1...

I am definitely type 3.

I don't build frameworks, I use the frameworks available.
I have seen type 1 programmers building their own version of BizTalk, that for sure doesn't deliver the required functionality at all.

People who try to solve everything on their own aren't really productive I think...

I really need input if I Build something. Lotsa times I need Google to find stuff to glue all those frameworks together.


# Mischa Kroon said on July 17, 2006 3:07 AM:

I pity the one who doesn't use google / other search engine when programming :)

Also NIH is toxic.

# Ramon Smits said on July 18, 2006 5:28 AM:

@Patrick : Capable of creation a framework is not the same as writing one for every generic method you daily need or write ;-)

I also use google alot but most for more recent or additional documentation. Not to only copy paste code from others.

There is no reason why I shouldnt be a type 1 developer.