[spam score 2/10 -pobox] [TriLUG] Linux Support Position (OT)

[Robby Dermody]

I'd have to disagree for the most part. I'm under the impression that _good_
programmers are born, not made. I feel that software programming allows you
to work with an amazingly tractable, open medium (the higher level the
programming, the more this is so). This contrasts to the "real world", where
by comparison the rules are much more strict and defined. Thus, I find that
the science and art of programming often confounds, since it is conceptually
at a different level than most are used to, and it takes conditioning (i.e.
a degree most commonly) to reach that level in those in which the ability is
not inate. Even then, the ability formed is still rather synthetic and
emulated. I am definately NOT an excellent programmer or anything of the
like, as I still have MUCH to learn. But, I've worked with some individuals
who -- while they did have that degree -- lacked the intuition and "quirk"
to "see" and visualize the code and what they were doing. I don't believe
any amount of schooling can overcome this inability, and it is a
prerequisite of being a good programmer. I read somewhere that some study
found the productivity of the best programmers was some 40x higher than an
average programmer. Schooling might produce the latter, but the former was
born with that gift.

Robby

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tanner Lovelace" <lovelace at wayfarer.org>
To: <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: [spam score 2/10 -pobox] [TriLUG] Linux Support Position (OT)


> On Fri, 2002-06-28 at 14:09, Andrew C. Oliver wrote:
> > Every society has its caste system.  This is ours.
>
> I disagree.  While for some positions a college degree may not
> make that much of a difference for some it does, quite a bit.
> For developers, I believe it makes an enormous difference.
> Developing software takes extremely logical, ordered and creative
> thinking.  While some exceptional people can do this without
> benefit of a college degree, the vast majority simply cannot
> (witness the vast amount of software on Source Forge that is
> simply crap).  To say otherwise shows a lack of understanding
> of the discipline of programming.
>
> System administration, on the other hand, can easily be learned
> in apprenticeship fashion.  While I believe a good system administrator
> will benefit from a college degree, I believe they will benefit
> more from experience (even experience administering a linux
> box at home).  Note that this does not mean I believe Sys
> Admins are any less competent than programmers, just that
> they are in different fields.
>
> Tanner
> --
> Tanner Lovelace | lovelace at wayfarer.org | http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
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