5 ms·

How jaded. Sounds rather like a "Guide to Success in High School" written by the guy that graduated with perfect grades but got his ass kicked every day. Well

How jaded. Sounds rather like a "Guide to Success in High School" written by the guy that graduated with perfect grades but got his ass kicked every day. Well, not everybody gets their ass kicked every day. I absolutely cringe at the idea of a bright-eyed young programmer becoming prematurely jaded based on somebody else's experiences. "This post aspires to be README.txt for your career as a young engineer." Definitely failed in that regard for this young engineer and I hope it fails similarly for my cohorts.

mikeknoop 15y ago
Please back up your claims.
angelbob 15y ago
I'm sorry to hear that. Well, you can become jaded in the normal course of events if you prefer. When that happens, remember that this article exists. It's good for tactics later, when you realize you can use it. I've been programming professionally for 15 years, and programming at all for almost 25 (now I feel old). I'm a fantastically skilled, experienced and versatile programmer, even for that experience level. I am, by any reasonable metric, highly successful. I work on very interesting problems. I work for a cool yet profitable company. I do code and not management, and I otherwise get the computer programmer dream job. I may be jaded by long experience, but I'm not bitter and I have no reason to be bitter. Patrick is totally, completely, 100% on the money with this article. Everything he says is true. Remember where you saw this so you can come back to it in a few years.
- xpose2000 15y ago
  Not only that, but I am printing this article out and saving it to remind myself of how it really is and not to fool myself into ever thinking otherwise.
mattdeboard 15y ago
Whether or not a thing is true is orthogonal to whether or not you want the thing to be true. I'm a new programmer but not new to business. He hit the nail right on the head for just about any profession (minus to the programming-specific bits).
- daviddaviddavid 15y ago
  Saying that the truth of X and the desire that X be true/false are orthogonal is rather like saying that "things just are the way they are". While this is the case in scientific matters, it's definitely not the case in social matters. There are plenty of things that I and others can do to bring about a business climate that fixes some of the shittiness that the author lays out.
  - chc 15y ago
    There's not a whole lot you can do about it if you're stuck working 70 hours a week for $35k a year for a boss (or series of bosses) who would very much like to send your job to India. Patrick's guide is just about how to be successful in the culture that exists now. If you manage to completely transform the tech industry, more power to you. But even if you do, that will not be tomorrow, or the day after, or even 10 years after that. Until then, Patrick's guide will continue to be useful.
  - mattdeboard 15y ago
    You can't change other people or how they behave. The only thing you can do is to change yourself, your attitude and/or your habits. Trying to "fix" other people and the environment they've created is a waste of time and energy.
jamesbritt 15y ago
Definitely failed in that regard for this young engineer and I hope it fails similarly for my cohorts. Counter anecdote: I wish I had read this when I was a young coder starting out. Would have saved me much time and trouble. In fact, I think it would have spared me some of the jaded moments I've had when felt I wasn't progressing as much as I had expected. Want to see someone get jaded fast? Keep telling them that they just need to be really good at what they do and work hard and their value will be justly rewarded.

mikeknoop 15y ago

Please back up your claims.

angelbob 15y ago

I'm sorry to hear that. Well, you can become jaded in the normal course of events if you prefer. When that happens, remember that this article exists. It's good for tactics later, when you realize you can use it. I've been programming professionally for 15 years, and programming at all for almost 25 (now I feel old). I'm a fantastically skilled, experienced and versatile programmer, even for that experience level. I am, by any reasonable metric, highly successful. I work on very interesting problems. I work for a cool yet profitable company. I do code and not management, and I otherwise get the computer programmer dream job. I may be jaded by long experience, but I'm not bitter and I have no reason to be bitter. Patrick is totally, completely, 100% on the money with this article. Everything he says is true. Remember where you saw this so you can come back to it in a few years.

xpose2000 15y ago
Not only that, but I am printing this article out and saving it to remind myself of how it really is and not to fool myself into ever thinking otherwise.

mattdeboard 15y ago

Whether or not a thing is true is orthogonal to whether or not you want the thing to be true. I'm a new programmer but not new to business. He hit the nail right on the head for just about any profession (minus to the programming-specific bits).

daviddaviddavid 15y ago
Saying that the truth of X and the desire that X be true/false are orthogonal is rather like saying that "things just are the way they are". While this is the case in scientific matters, it's definitely not the case in social matters. There are plenty of things that I and others can do to bring about a business climate that fixes some of the shittiness that the author lays out.
- chc 15y ago
  There's not a whole lot you can do about it if you're stuck working 70 hours a week for $35k a year for a boss (or series of bosses) who would very much like to send your job to India. Patrick's guide is just about how to be successful in the culture that exists now. If you manage to completely transform the tech industry, more power to you. But even if you do, that will not be tomorrow, or the day after, or even 10 years after that. Until then, Patrick's guide will continue to be useful.
- mattdeboard 15y ago
  You can't change other people or how they behave. The only thing you can do is to change yourself, your attitude and/or your habits. Trying to "fix" other people and the environment they've created is a waste of time and energy.

jamesbritt 15y ago

Definitely failed in that regard for this young engineer and I hope it fails similarly for my cohorts. Counter anecdote: I wish I had read this when I was a young coder starting out. Would have saved me much time and trouble. In fact, I think it would have spared me some of the jaded moments I've had when felt I wasn't progressing as much as I had expected. Want to see someone get jaded fast? Keep telling them that they just need to be really good at what they do and work hard and their value will be justly rewarded.