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I agree with every word of this article and after 25yrs experience as a developer I have all similar experiences. Being a computer programmer is about the same

I agree with every word of this article and after 25yrs experience as a developer I have all similar experiences. Being a computer programmer is about the same as being a 'writer' (book author), and no one expects an author to sit with other authors in a special building to be able to write. With modern technology, and the wastefulness of time and energy spent commuting, there is just no longer any reason for a programmer to not be able to work remote. I mean even if all you are considering is gasoline use and pollution savings, even that alone is enough of a reason for society to say let developers work at home. There's just no downside to it. I have been working at home for the past year, and I don't think there's any way i'd ever accept another non-remote job again. In any large city you're gonna be sitting in traffic a total of 10hrs a week. That's insanity. That's well over one full work day. With a web-cam you can still have face to face meetings. The only thing that I find missing occasionally is the use of a whiteboard, but that is a very minor thing. Having a whiteboard is not a good trade-off for 10hrs spent in traffic. Not even close. Of course in 10yrs VR will totally make it irrelevant where someone's physical location is, but i think even the basic webcams we have today already does as well.

ryandrake 10y ago
Most books don't require 10-100 authors, each focusing on the paragraph that they are experts in, needing to hold the pages together with APIs that are agreed upon by all co-authors. The collaborative aspect of a software project is much greater than that of a book. Yes, there are books that have a multiple of co-authors, but these co-authors tend to not operate lone-wolf.
- dasmoth 10y ago
  There are different models for joint authorship. Some are pretty course-grained. In a lot of cases even if the writing used is pretty collaborative, one author does a final editing pass to come up with an integrated end product. From what I've seen, "collective ownership" models mirroring current fashions in software development remain relatively rare. And while some software projects do need 100 people, most don't -- and most don't even need 10. I get the feeling that a lot of project managers don't even think about the possibility that something could be built by a focussed individual working in a low-distraction environment.
- brilliantcode 10y ago
  I too think the book analogy is misplaced here. Books are physical products. They are written by one guy sometimes two but it's super rare. Once it's printed, it's done. Customer can't call you up and demand you rip out entire chapters or revive their favorite character which you bastardly left out. Looking at software, it becomes very complicated when you throw multiple engineers. If it's written in a manner where people don't talk to each other for weeks and just showing up with the pieces as if building an oil tanker with prefabricated parts that are put together. Software is much more complicated endeavour and it's fueled by the endless changes that can be made. Nothing is solid or have physical constraints that clearly limit options once the product is out the door, where as software can very easily ebb and flow with changing stakeholders and turnover. 50 shades of grey didn't have multiple authors that came before each other and a group of guys writing it together and readers demanding changes that caters to them.
- ClayFerguson 10y ago
  Unless you are in a paired-programming situation most coding is done by one person sitting alone. I would never accept a job doing paired-programming. I want to be alone at my keyboard working, uninterrupted, with total silence 90% of my day. My point was that authors do the same thing, by sitting alone typing 90% of the time. However I do agree 10% of the time you need to be communicating with other developers and sharing ideas, when for example a novelist wouldn't be doing that. However there is nothing about communication that requires face-to-face meetings. Actually as technology gets better and better this will become MORE true not less true in the future. However the one thing missing is a good virtual shared whiteboard, but I guess that's just because I don't have one of those stylus boards, because I think with those you can do virtual whiteboards.

ryandrake 10y ago

Most books don't require 10-100 authors, each focusing on the paragraph that they are experts in, needing to hold the pages together with APIs that are agreed upon by all co-authors. The collaborative aspect of a software project is much greater than that of a book. Yes, there are books that have a multiple of co-authors, but these co-authors tend to not operate lone-wolf.

dasmoth 10y ago
There are different models for joint authorship. Some are pretty course-grained. In a lot of cases even if the writing used is pretty collaborative, one author does a final editing pass to come up with an integrated end product. From what I've seen, "collective ownership" models mirroring current fashions in software development remain relatively rare. And while some software projects do need 100 people, most don't -- and most don't even need 10. I get the feeling that a lot of project managers don't even think about the possibility that something could be built by a focussed individual working in a low-distraction environment.
brilliantcode 10y ago
I too think the book analogy is misplaced here. Books are physical products. They are written by one guy sometimes two but it's super rare. Once it's printed, it's done. Customer can't call you up and demand you rip out entire chapters or revive their favorite character which you bastardly left out. Looking at software, it becomes very complicated when you throw multiple engineers. If it's written in a manner where people don't talk to each other for weeks and just showing up with the pieces as if building an oil tanker with prefabricated parts that are put together. Software is much more complicated endeavour and it's fueled by the endless changes that can be made. Nothing is solid or have physical constraints that clearly limit options once the product is out the door, where as software can very easily ebb and flow with changing stakeholders and turnover. 50 shades of grey didn't have multiple authors that came before each other and a group of guys writing it together and readers demanding changes that caters to them.
ClayFerguson 10y ago
Unless you are in a paired-programming situation most coding is done by one person sitting alone. I would never accept a job doing paired-programming. I want to be alone at my keyboard working, uninterrupted, with total silence 90% of my day. My point was that authors do the same thing, by sitting alone typing 90% of the time. However I do agree 10% of the time you need to be communicating with other developers and sharing ideas, when for example a novelist wouldn't be doing that. However there is nothing about communication that requires face-to-face meetings. Actually as technology gets better and better this will become MORE true not less true in the future. However the one thing missing is a good virtual shared whiteboard, but I guess that's just because I don't have one of those stylus boards, because I think with those you can do virtual whiteboards.