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Optimization is possible in most programmers schedule, true. But I still believe it's necessary to spend 30-60 hours a week for 11 months a year to successfully
by erikb 10y ago
Optimization is possible in most programmers schedule, true. But I still believe it's necessary to spend 30-60 hours a week for 11 months a year to successfully increase your skill. You can't cut off these either, if you want to be good. And your skill is bad at bargaining. You can't tell it "Listen to me skill, I have that other hobby as well. Give me a break!" Skill doesn't work that way.
- goldenkey 10y agoProgramming doesn't change much, frameworks might. Maybe for a college grad, they'll need to do that. But for someone who's been programming since they were young, additional time is not going to do much.
- erikb 10y agoReaching a point of competency even in playing Mozart on a violin takes a lot of time, and that doesn't change a bit for the next decade. Most people don't reach a level competency in their whole career, because they don't put in enough effort. Additionally have you spent some time without coding? Because I was upgraded to project manager I haven't actively coded in 4 months. I feel I'm significantly slower now. You forget the small details. Like yesterday I had to think about how to call "git mergetool". That meant my brain didn't think about why I would need to solve a merge conflict instead of doing something else (like ignoring one branch, or writing feedback on the pull request) but instead I've spent the time thinking about how to type the command. That doesn't directly slow you down, but that decreases your output significantly. We are talking "top developers", not average developers right? Yes most people think of themselves they are "top developers" but in truth most are "average" which is (arguably) less than "mediocre". If you are fine being "average" the whole discussion thread doesn't apply to you and I agree with you that slacking off for a few years doesn't change that status a lot.
- goldenkey 10y agoKeyword, "much." Practice always helps but is not going to do much for a virtuoso.
- maxxxxx 10y agoAt some point the real skill becomes to develop a reasonable solution with reasonable effort. You don't have to keep chasing the latest cool frameworks forever. It's good to know what the trends are but you can safely skip many of them.
- erikb 10y agoYou are right, that if it is about putting bread on the plate of your children reasonable results are enough and for that reasonable effort is enough. I assume you don't plan on getting to the top with that, though. That's what the article and title limit the discussion to though. And that's what I'm arguing against. You can't be at the top with "reasonable" effort. And in case your first sentence means that you have given up finding ways to multiply or exponentiate your skills I would like to give you a little new hope. It's true that this kind of skill increase can't be found in new frameworks and tools. The reason is that it was already found in the 60s and 70s. Look for unix, look for vim, look for lisp (some may argue to add git to that list). Even if you don't use them in your daily life. Studying them will increase your skill to levels you cannot imagine.
- maxxxxx 10y agoI think you get to the top with reasonable effort because it's the shortest path to success. The best programmers I know don't work 80 hours per week. They work 40 or less but each of them with purpose. They don't do team building or play foosball. They don't attend endless meetings.