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It’s clear the author of the original post is taking an elitist stance on what it means to work as a coder and trying to brand the work of others as less import

It’s clear the author of the original post is taking an elitist stance on what it means to work as a coder and trying to brand the work of others as less important & give it a different job title. Essentially saying “a real programmer does the job in this specific way I say a real programmer does.” It’s not the kind of attitude that benefits anyone. It’s the kind of attitude that does push people out in an industry already with a reputation for pushing people out.

joejerryronnie 6y ago
The irony is that I’m sure the author experienced elitism and discrimination when she started her career in software development and now doesn’t realize she is propagating the same.
- ritchiea 6y ago
  Yea exactly, she seems to have reached a level of comfort with her technical proficiency and years of experience that she's not even seeing how this kind of talk can be discouraging to a junior who doesn't have the depth of knowledge she has.
jlokier 6y ago
I don't think it is elitism according to the meaning of that word. Elitism would be saying "this group of people should be in charge because they know what they are doing; that group of people should not be in charge because they don't". I think the author is in fact correctly recognising that different people enjoy a significantly different kind of software work from each other, and are unhappy with the other kind, and both kinds are valuable. Recognising when there are different kinds of work and allowing people to choose for themselves which one suits them is not elitism. Imagine if someone on a factory floor said "I've just realised that welding and painting are different kinds of work and most people greatly prefer one over the other. Perhaps we should label the jobs and let people gravitate to the kind they like so people aren't as unhappy." Should we be up in arms and call that elitism? No, we should ensure both roles have equal status and recognition, but not hide the differences. However, "VendorOps" does sound like a slightly derogatory word, so a better word might help.
- chrisrhoden 6y ago
  There is no equivocating here - the assertion is that the folks in this category are incompetent and, "almost rational," whatever that means. > "I've just realised that welding and painting are different kinds of work and most people greatly prefer one over the other. Perhaps we should label the jobs and let people gravitate to the kind they like so people aren't as unhappy." Except it's more like, "We hire people to design and assemble complex machines and some people make their own tools while others buy them. Anyway, the people who buy them are basically incompetent and when they claim to prefer focusing on producing the machines rather than tools for building them it's because they are scared of losing their jobs. Let's give them a new title, ideally that trivializes the work."

joejerryronnie 6y ago

The irony is that I’m sure the author experienced elitism and discrimination when she started her career in software development and now doesn’t realize she is propagating the same.

ritchiea 6y ago
Yea exactly, she seems to have reached a level of comfort with her technical proficiency and years of experience that she's not even seeing how this kind of talk can be discouraging to a junior who doesn't have the depth of knowledge she has.

jlokier 6y ago

I don't think it is elitism according to the meaning of that word. Elitism would be saying "this group of people should be in charge because they know what they are doing; that group of people should not be in charge because they don't". I think the author is in fact correctly recognising that different people enjoy a significantly different kind of software work from each other, and are unhappy with the other kind, and both kinds are valuable. Recognising when there are different kinds of work and allowing people to choose for themselves which one suits them is not elitism. Imagine if someone on a factory floor said "I've just realised that welding and painting are different kinds of work and most people greatly prefer one over the other. Perhaps we should label the jobs and let people gravitate to the kind they like so people aren't as unhappy." Should we be up in arms and call that elitism? No, we should ensure both roles have equal status and recognition, but not hide the differences. However, "VendorOps" does sound like a slightly derogatory word, so a better word might help.

chrisrhoden 6y ago
There is no equivocating here - the assertion is that the folks in this category are incompetent and, "almost rational," whatever that means. > "I've just realised that welding and painting are different kinds of work and most people greatly prefer one over the other. Perhaps we should label the jobs and let people gravitate to the kind they like so people aren't as unhappy." Except it's more like, "We hire people to design and assemble complex machines and some people make their own tools while others buy them. Anyway, the people who buy them are basically incompetent and when they claim to prefer focusing on producing the machines rather than tools for building them it's because they are scared of losing their jobs. Let's give them a new title, ideally that trivializes the work."