I didn't get the context of your quote, and had to go grab the complete quote: > The average programmer, including someone straight out of > college, shou

I didn't get the context of your quote, and had to go grab the complete quote: > The average programmer, including someone straight out of > college, should be able to understand and work on a well > put-together codebase. I think straight out of college is definitely a little squishy -- someone just out of college may be just out of a theory-heavy CS degree, or a very product-focused CIS degree, or maybe not at all a tech-oriented degree. But let's focus on average programmer. If I have a solid developer, with a year or two in their field, and they can't make heads or tails of the codebase put in front of them? That says more about the codebase than it does of the dev reading it. > especially given what's happened to the "average > programmer" over time And what, indeed, has happened to the "average programmer" over time? From my view, more people today are making computers do new things than ever before; from "secretaries" (oof, that term) maintaining excel spreadsheets that run entire small businesses, to bootcamp graduates who can (with a little guidance) ship fully functional MVPs to prove a line of business. If something's beyond the skillset of a newer developer that's reasonable, but the goal should be to continually make that not the case.