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This hits home with me. Incompetent developers need dogmatisms (100% unit coverage!!!! etc)

• adamlett 9y ago
  No, inexperienced developers need dogmatisms. Subtle difference perhaps, but it's worth remembering that every competent developer started out being inexperienced, and that it's nothing to be ashamed of.
  • scalatohaskell 9y ago
    You are correct. I was once inexperienced and was very dogmatic.
  • lmm 9y ago
    No. We fetishize experience too much. I've known a great many competent inexperienced developers who could weigh tradeoffs and use the right approach to a given task, and a far too many highly experienced developers who destroyed productivity through dogmatism.
    • adamlett 9y ago
      Productivity is not the sole measure of competency, nor necessarily even a very good one. Productivity suffers when time is spent making software robust, secure, and performant, and the reverse is obviously also true. Likewise, short term productivity sometimes suffers when effort is spent to ensure long term productivity. Again the reverse also holds true. The problem is that short term productivity is often the only measure of competency that is immediately visible. Nobody gets recognized for the problems they don't cause.