Oooooo its the geek manifesto. This guy was has been a huge dork his entire life. Just look at his self proclaimed history. Programming a Commodore 64 at age 9, when most kids spend their spare time playing soccer, baseball, or some other outdoor activity with their friends? Notice the defense of the good programmers being socially well adjusted, and then the ridiculous.
Seriously, the very nature of programming is anti-social. Focus, concentration, alone time are essential. This guy says the best programmers "Program as a hobby", program at work, have "significant personal side-projects", "started programming before University", and "will talk your ear off about technology if encouraged", and are socially well adjusted. The guy may be a kick *** programmer, but has likely spent his last year or so collecting firearms thinking about offing everyone in his workplace as well as himself. The words "Get a life" come to mind.
Quote:
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If you can’t have a great conversation with them in a relaxed social context, they’re very likely not a good programmer
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Uh yeh. And if they don't dress fashionably, also likely bad programmers.
Several people hit on the "Variety of Technologies" falacy. The guy with too many technologies in his resume is the guy you DONT want on your team, unless hes pushing 40(Or unless he spends every waking minute programming, as this guy claims to do). Any smart person can pick up a tool and use it. Experience with a given tool gives a person proficiency and speed.
The Passion comment is off target too, calling "Programming as a Day job" a negative indicator. I was a passionate golfer, took a year off to play, and never broke 80. Some people just are just good at some things, and do them very well even if the "Started programming at a university" and "Learn new technologies in company-sponsored courses".
The reality is, all the chest thumping, "I'm the best programmer" speak is worthless, unless your talking about your chief technologist. It doesn't even matter if you have a team of top notch programmers if your deliverable can be heavy (true for most things outside of operating systems, device drivers, etc). Qualified programmers, yes pick your industry qualification based on the tool you are using, are entirely as good and usually more affordable. Good management and methodologies make for successful projects much more than any programmer. Prevention of scope creep, well laid out project plans, proper design specifications, integrated Q&A teams with systems and process to support their work, as well as management of customer expectations. Implementation of RUP, CMM, and/or UML can be useful as well so long as they are used as you don't become dogmatic with their use.
