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Okay, so basically, tell other people to code. Got it. The only special thing about someone who ‘can code’ versus someone who ‘cannot’ is their persistence to
by jl2718 5y ago
Okay, so basically, tell other people to code. Got it.
The only special thing about someone who ‘can code’ versus someone who ‘cannot’ is their persistence to do whatever is necessary to solve the problem at hand. At some point that skill was required. ‘Coders’ end up doing everything in a business: talk to customers, validate use cases, test, financial projection, write marketing copy, design interfaces, make a presentations to investors, build a web site, manage the database, onboard new hires, interview. They just do it for someone else to take the credit, because they’re too busy to play that game.
If you want to see this principle in action, try giving a coder a critical assignment from any other department/discipline, anything that is obviously more critical to the business than whatever they are doing. Watch them attack the problem relentlessly, failing over and over again until they get it. Then find someone from any other department: ask an HR person to do the CFO’s job, or a sales person to do security operations. They’ll tell you they don’t know how to do that, and that will be the end of it.
- wilsonnb3 5y agoThis is an absurd take. Coding is just a skill like anything else - plumbing, writing, cooking, playing guitar. Some people have learned how to do it, some haven’t, and anyone can learn even if they won’t be great. It’s not a superpower.
- jl2718 5y agoYeah, that’s the point; it’s not a superpower. I happen to be a pretty handy as a plumber too, but not because I was born that way, and not because I had dreams of being a plumber; it’s because I’ve had to fix nearly everything in my house. Now, mind you, everybody in the house has faced the same set of problems, but not everybody in the house has become an expert handyman over the same span of time. I wonder why. Must be my preternatural talent at turning screws. Others are all quite certain they would be terrible at it.
- creakingstairs 5y agoI’ve worked with plenty of coders who just says “I don’t know.” When faced with a problem. I’ve also seen plenty of non coders who go the extra mile (even learn to code!) when faced with a new challenge. You can maybe make the argument that persistence/grit is more prevalent in coders (not that all coders have grit). I’d guess maybe internally motivated and curious people tend to gravitate to specialist roles - not necessarily just coding.
- hermitdev 5y agoWhen interviewing a candidate, I always look for the willingness to admit "I don't know". Not knowing how to do something is not a defect. It's a sign someone is self aware of the bounds of their current knowledge. The differentiator is between someone that says "I don't know" and drops the problem there versus one that says "I don't know, but I'll figure it out". The former is useless to me. I want the latter person is of great desire to me: aware of their limits, but willing to work to grow beyond their current limits.
- creakingstairs 5y agoRight. I meant the former in my comment. I agree with you completely on that you really want the latter.
- cafard 5y agoSo the coder who works for a hospital can be assigned to heart surgery and fail over and over?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]