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>> you will end up being average at it, at best. What's wrong with being average and making a living ? assuming of course there's place for average people in t

by petra 8y ago

>> you will end up being average at it, at best. What's wrong with being average and making a living ? assuming of course there's place for average people in this field ? someone need to write those simple but boring CRUD.

robertAngst 8y ago
Because then every time you ask for help, people tell you "You should really have someone better than you doing this." Try asking the internet a database or encryption question. Many times people wont even nudge you into a google search, they just shut the question down. To program means learning advanced IMO. I have a hard time considering these 'software engineers' who have been doing Android Testing for 6 years 'programmers'. On the flip side, you get some random 20 some year old kid with no formal training that builds the next gen blockchain. You can do lots of stuff as an average programmer, but they cannot do anything alone.
samsonradu 8y ago
Well, there's nothing wrong besides your job security, which will erode over time due to competition (low-barrier to being average) and also because your tasks could/will be automated. This stands in many other industries of course, but the point is that not pushing for being better is not a viable long-term strategy if you need to earn a living from it.
- signal11 8y ago
  Very good point. Eventually the routine stuff gets automated. For instance [1] is an attempt previously covered on HN to generate code from an interface mockup/screenshot. Obviously this'll take years of work to perfect, but because UI wiring code is pretty routine for simple forms, I can totally see this working eventually. [1] https://github.com/tonybeltramelli/pix2code https://github.com/tonybeltramelli/pix2code
- soneca 8y ago
  That seems more likely when you are bad, not average. But there is also the problem that average is relative. I consider myself average, when comparing to the best developer in my company. But I am sure he considers himself average when comparing himself to other outstanding famous developers.
- petra 8y ago
  i wouldn't be surprised that , in certain cases , being an average coder but having another skill: knowing how to work well with people, political capital in your company, enough domain knowledge, being hard working, choosing to work in a more stable org or the public sector, may be a good enough barrier to competition.
buserror 8y ago
Well, you won't be happy in your job. Personally I don't feel spending your life in a job that isn't really "for" you is a nice way to spend most of the hours of day for most of your life... Also, you'll be the first to be obsoleted, automated, replaced by a nice framework made by someone who had an itch to scratch at the other end of the world; you know, a weird guy with a calling ;-) I do realize I'm lucky to do a job I still love, but my originally point is that perhaps we shoudn't 'force' people into a path they won't enjoy ; worse, you might make quite a few unhappy ones if some realize they aren't made for it after a while. The "coding is easy, come and play" slogans we see around are false advertising.
- workinthehead 8y ago
  Being "happy" in your job is really a luxury for most people. Plenty of people are happy just to be able to pay their bills and if they are lucky, own a home/raise a family. I don't think anybody is being "forced" into coding.

by petra 8y ago

robertAngst 8y ago

Because then every time you ask for help, people tell you "You should really have someone better than you doing this." Try asking the internet a database or encryption question. Many times people wont even nudge you into a google search, they just shut the question down. To program means learning advanced IMO. I have a hard time considering these 'software engineers' who have been doing Android Testing for 6 years 'programmers'. On the flip side, you get some random 20 some year old kid with no formal training that builds the next gen blockchain. You can do lots of stuff as an average programmer, but they cannot do anything alone.

samsonradu 8y ago

Well, there's nothing wrong besides your job security, which will erode over time due to competition (low-barrier to being average) and also because your tasks could/will be automated. This stands in many other industries of course, but the point is that not pushing for being better is not a viable long-term strategy if you need to earn a living from it.

signal11 8y ago
Very good point. Eventually the routine stuff gets automated. For instance [1] is an attempt previously covered on HN to generate code from an interface mockup/screenshot. Obviously this'll take years of work to perfect, but because UI wiring code is pretty routine for simple forms, I can totally see this working eventually. [1] https://github.com/tonybeltramelli/pix2code https://github.com/tonybeltramelli/pix2code
soneca 8y ago
That seems more likely when you are bad, not average. But there is also the problem that average is relative. I consider myself average, when comparing to the best developer in my company. But I am sure he considers himself average when comparing himself to other outstanding famous developers.
petra 8y ago
i wouldn't be surprised that , in certain cases , being an average coder but having another skill: knowing how to work well with people, political capital in your company, enough domain knowledge, being hard working, choosing to work in a more stable org or the public sector, may be a good enough barrier to competition.

buserror 8y ago

Well, you won't be happy in your job. Personally I don't feel spending your life in a job that isn't really "for" you is a nice way to spend most of the hours of day for most of your life... Also, you'll be the first to be obsoleted, automated, replaced by a nice framework made by someone who had an itch to scratch at the other end of the world; you know, a weird guy with a calling ;-) I do realize I'm lucky to do a job I still love, but my originally point is that perhaps we shoudn't 'force' people into a path they won't enjoy ; worse, you might make quite a few unhappy ones if some realize they aren't made for it after a while. The "coding is easy, come and play" slogans we see around are false advertising.

workinthehead 8y ago
Being "happy" in your job is really a luxury for most people. Plenty of people are happy just to be able to pay their bills and if they are lucky, own a home/raise a family. I don't think anybody is being "forced" into coding.