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I think this is absolutely spot on. So many people put their programming expertise or productivity down to some innate quality (that is apparently overabundant

by adam-a 9y ago

I think this is absolutely spot on. So many people put their programming expertise or productivity down to some innate quality (that is apparently overabundant in white men). To me it seems nearly every one of those rockstar ninjas has also spent an enormous amount of time learning their trade - usually a lot of time outside of formal school or a 9-5 job. I think if there's one skill that might be innate and that helps people be better at programming, it's patience. Learning to program and learning programming tools is for most people a boring and extremely frustrating task. You need patience to stick with it after spending two days solid trying to debug some linker error or CSS bug or whatever esoteric programming issue you inevitably have to deal with.

toasterlovin 9y ago
Yeah, but people also tend to spend time on things they're good at. Is programming solely about innate skill? No, of course not. There's a reason why the distinction between senior and junior developers exists. But are you going to put the time in necessary to develop into a senior developer if programming feels like mental torture?
neogodless 9y ago
I agree with you, but even patience can be learned! (You can train it, practice it yourself, and improve your ability to persevere.)
Will_Parker 9y ago
> So many people put their programming expertise or productivity down to some innate quality Yes. Some people (both as kids and adults) seem to be innately interested in different kinds of activities. And it is perhaps impossible to separate talent with passionate interest since B leads to A. Take the kids from my tribe, extremely passionate about patterns and things and systems and numbers and coding from early childhood, _despite_ concern from parents and teachers, social ostracization, and efforts to limit computer time. We also tend to acquire talent.

by adam-a 9y ago

toasterlovin 9y ago

Yeah, but people also tend to spend time on things they're good at. Is programming solely about innate skill? No, of course not. There's a reason why the distinction between senior and junior developers exists. But are you going to put the time in necessary to develop into a senior developer if programming feels like mental torture?

neogodless 9y ago

I agree with you, but even patience can be learned! (You can train it, practice it yourself, and improve your ability to persevere.)

Will_Parker 9y ago

> So many people put their programming expertise or productivity down to some innate quality Yes. Some people (both as kids and adults) seem to be innately interested in different kinds of activities. And it is perhaps impossible to separate talent with passionate interest since B leads to A. Take the kids from my tribe, extremely passionate about patterns and things and systems and numbers and coding from early childhood, _despite_ concern from parents and teachers, social ostracization, and efforts to limit computer time. We also tend to acquire talent.