The best programmers that I’ve known put people first. They’ve realized that the software that they’re writing is for people, even if it’s just the back end of

The best programmers that I’ve known put people first. They’ve realized that the software that they’re writing is for people, even if it’s just the back end of a complicated system or a protocol that no one but other developers will ever use. They write documentation because it’s important. They help people use their code. They’re willing to work extra and deal with a bit more complexity to give the people using their software the right solution. I always get a bit irritated when people make the "people first" argument. It's not that I disagree with putting people first. It's just that "putting people first" always seems to mean "being a good cog in the machine". There's more to putting people first than writing documentation and explaining your code to other people. Those are important, but they mean putting the task first, not the people. To put people first, you have to do things like: listen to others, empathize with them, use tact, compromise, and occasionally do something impractical for no other reason than to help work suck a bit less.