Codecraft | Hacker News Reader

Codecraft

technically.us

24 pointsStasyan7 comments

I read a lot of articles that talk about programming being "low social status" or unappreciated.

I can't say that I see that in my daily life at all. Usually, when I'm around non-technical people, if I mention what I do at my job, or what some of friends do at theirs, most people are interested, and want to hear more.

Perhaps this is just an artifact of living in the Bay Area. Do others hear this same sentiment?

That being said, I think this article is right on about considering programming a craft, and is very well said.

From my personal experience, there are a lots of work places that don't appreciate software developers.

I think the low image is mostly self-inflicted. From the inside, it's easy to dismiss programming as just a matter of reading documentation, learning and recognizing patterns, and solving fairly simple puzzles. I'm usually surprised how impressed people are and how respectfully they treat me. Whenever I say, "I'm a programmer," or "I'm a software developer," I'm afraid they're going to think of the smelly schlub in a death metal shirt who keeps screwing up their corporate web site. Or any of the other stereotypes: the novelty-averse autistic man-child, the anxious anal retentive control freak, the meek Milton from Office Space, the WoW addict. All variations on the same theme: a guy who retreated into computers because he lacked the ability to cope with anything else in life, and now hangs onto society by the tenuous thread of his technical skill. But that's not how people see me. They see me as somebody who stays on top of a challenging and constantly-changing field. The more I realize this, the more I am amazed and relieved. I sure have people fooled ;-)

Seriously, one thing that people outside computing really appreciate about our job is how fast things change. For the average person over 35, it feels like everything about their job changed in the last twenty years, even the last ten years, and it will keep changing for another ten years. It's scary and challenging, and sometimes they're afraid they won't keep up. And for the average person, it was all driven by computers, directly or indirectly. So they look at me and realize they're exaggerating; compared to my job, their job has only changed a little bit. But the change doesn't faze me a bit. For the average person under 35, they're thrilled with how fast things are changing, and computer guys are the ones who understand it and make it happen. (We probably get more credit than we should. Scientists and engineers have fallen too far from their "Masters of the Future" position in the public eye; they should be right up there with us.)

Perhaps this is just an artifact of living in the Bay Area. Do others hear this same sentiment?

I think there's a crucial bit of context missing here. I live in Chile and I can tell you that most (but not all) of the places at which I've worked treat programmers as second-class employees.

Here are some extreme perceptions I've witnessed at some of my jobs: we are either incompetent or overpaid; we have to be monitored and managed correctly, otherwise we'll slack away and/or engage in miscellaneous mischief; we never get things done on time, within the budget or the way the users want them; in other words, we're just a sinkhole for money.

On the other hand, if you talk to a non-technical person outside the workplace context, they'll usually react the way you describe it. I think that, in the end, it all depends on the culture, both corporate and general.

I wonder if the work environment has more to do with. The programmers I know all work at companies where what they do is the main product.

Very well said. This hits on some points that I have been thinking of recently.

Here's how I gain respect as a programmer. I complete my work on time, I do brilliant work, I don't abide cheesehead managers wanting to set unrealistic schedules, and I maintain a certain level of deliberate eccentricity to keep everyone guessing. Now, nobody wants to piss me off because they're too afraid I'll quit and leave everyone in a lurch. How you are perceived in your career is entirely up to you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com