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The abundance and heterogeneity of various technology stacks, frameworks, methodologies and whatnot fuels this hiring mess. Twenty-five years ago, nearly everyo

The abundance and heterogeneity of various technology stacks, frameworks, methodologies and whatnot fuels this hiring mess. Twenty-five years ago, nearly everyone who called himself a programmer knew C and an interviewer could judge the relative strength of two candidates by really examining their programming skills and not some trendy keywords.

johnloeber 11y ago
This sounds like a falsehood, brought about by the belief that the past was somehow simpler, because the relics from the past that survive into the modern day are few in number. I doubt that everyone knew C. Lots of big firms extensively used COBOL. Fortran was important in science/numerical computing. Pascal was popular. The list goes on. Need I mention that for decades, there were lots of competing assembly languages, and that only in recent years we've converged on three? That Harvard Architecture and Von Neumann Architecture competed into the late 70s? That compiling a program on a machine with particular hardware could be seriously difficult? The conflict between big-endian and little-endian systems? Computing has always been full of heterogenous, competing technology stacks, frameworks, methodologies, etc. Why? https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/ And in the 90s in particular: do you really think that designing software for this so-called "internet" and newfangled HTML and JavaScript was free of trendy keywords?
- bluetomcat 11y ago
  Indeed there were lots of competing standards and technologies, but C was still the kind of "lingua franca" among most (professional?) programmers. Many people used to write really intricate programs in it without relying on anything but standard library functions. It was about raw talent and people used to take pride in the way a program was written and not just what its effect is. And yes, it all started to change in the mid 90's with the advent of Windows and the web.
dkopi 11y ago
The amount of different real world problems we solve through technology is the cause for this abundance. 25 years ago, the challenges were much different. It's "Trendy" because its relevant.
marcus_holmes 11y ago
I started programming professionally about 25 years ago, and it was exactly the same. Windows was rolling out into the office spaces, replacing old mainframe line-of-business apps. MS Visual Basic was the new hot thing on the block. Delphi was the same thing but in Pascal. There were a bunch of database-with-front-ends like FoxPro and Access that you could build a windows program with pretty easily. Actually, C occupied pretty much the same space as it does now: there's some people using it for serious stuff at serious companies, but it's not RAD so no-one else is interested.
tarsinge 11y ago
It's overly simplified, like "in 2010's nearly everyone who called himself a programmer knew JavaScript". From what I remember software stacks were far from simpler and standardised, between Mac toolbox, 68k assembler, x86 assembler, Object Pascal, DOS, Windows, MFC, VCL, OS/2, AppleTalk, IPX, NetBIOS, OpenDoc...
onion2k 11y ago
A very large number of software developers today don't actually write much new code. The job is more about wiring up libraries, frameworks and APIs rather than designing and implementing new things. Consequently you need more organisation and focus than "real" programming skills like math or logic.
- marcus_holmes 11y ago
  this. I describe my job as "plumbing without the water" these days.
dunkelheit 11y ago
I think it is fairly common these days to allow the candidate use any language he or she finds convenient. But now there is another problem! Twenty five years ago everyone who called himself a programmer could do algorithmic stuff. And now there is a growing cohort of "programmers" who proclaim that they are above it and instead take pride in their masterful ability to call APIs.

johnloeber 11y ago

This sounds like a falsehood, brought about by the belief that the past was somehow simpler, because the relics from the past that survive into the modern day are few in number. I doubt that everyone knew C. Lots of big firms extensively used COBOL. Fortran was important in science/numerical computing. Pascal was popular. The list goes on. Need I mention that for decades, there were lots of competing assembly languages, and that only in recent years we've converged on three? That Harvard Architecture and Von Neumann Architecture competed into the late 70s? That compiling a program on a machine with particular hardware could be seriously difficult? The conflict between big-endian and little-endian systems? Computing has always been full of heterogenous, competing technology stacks, frameworks, methodologies, etc. Why? https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/ And in the 90s in particular: do you really think that designing software for this so-called "internet" and newfangled HTML and JavaScript was free of trendy keywords?

bluetomcat 11y ago
Indeed there were lots of competing standards and technologies, but C was still the kind of "lingua franca" among most (professional?) programmers. Many people used to write really intricate programs in it without relying on anything but standard library functions. It was about raw talent and people used to take pride in the way a program was written and not just what its effect is. And yes, it all started to change in the mid 90's with the advent of Windows and the web.

dkopi 11y ago

The amount of different real world problems we solve through technology is the cause for this abundance. 25 years ago, the challenges were much different. It's "Trendy" because its relevant.

marcus_holmes 11y ago

I started programming professionally about 25 years ago, and it was exactly the same. Windows was rolling out into the office spaces, replacing old mainframe line-of-business apps. MS Visual Basic was the new hot thing on the block. Delphi was the same thing but in Pascal. There were a bunch of database-with-front-ends like FoxPro and Access that you could build a windows program with pretty easily. Actually, C occupied pretty much the same space as it does now: there's some people using it for serious stuff at serious companies, but it's not RAD so no-one else is interested.

tarsinge 11y ago

It's overly simplified, like "in 2010's nearly everyone who called himself a programmer knew JavaScript". From what I remember software stacks were far from simpler and standardised, between Mac toolbox, 68k assembler, x86 assembler, Object Pascal, DOS, Windows, MFC, VCL, OS/2, AppleTalk, IPX, NetBIOS, OpenDoc...

onion2k 11y ago

A very large number of software developers today don't actually write much new code. The job is more about wiring up libraries, frameworks and APIs rather than designing and implementing new things. Consequently you need more organisation and focus than "real" programming skills like math or logic.

marcus_holmes 11y ago
this. I describe my job as "plumbing without the water" these days.

dunkelheit 11y ago

I think it is fairly common these days to allow the candidate use any language he or she finds convenient. But now there is another problem! Twenty five years ago everyone who called himself a programmer could do algorithmic stuff. And now there is a growing cohort of "programmers" who proclaim that they are above it and instead take pride in their masterful ability to call APIs.