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Isn't this just how technology progresses? Things start off as amateur pursuits but once a field becomes profiting making then professionals move in and industr

Isn't this just how technology progresses? Things start off as amateur pursuits but once a field becomes profiting making then professionals move in and industrialise things.

tannhaeuser 4y ago
Maybe, but somehow Microsoft Office with its VBA macros has managed to remain sane in comparison ;)
arrow7000 4y ago
This is a good response to the vast majority of curmudgeonly HN posts tbf
- bigDinosaur 4y ago
  C'mon, let's not imply that web developers are, generally speaking, professional. ;-)
- tannhaeuser 4y ago
  Idk "it is what it is" doesn't make an interesting conversation OTOH, does it?
int_19h 4y ago
I think it was meant to be a reference to this bit in the original CSS spec: "One of the fundamental features of CSS is that style sheets cascade; authors can attach a preferred style sheet, while the reader may have a personal style sheet to adjust for human or technological handicaps." So CSS was originally intended for both users and web devs, but web devs "hijacked" it to be for them alone - ultimately, by removing support for user stylesheets in the dominant web browser.
klibertp 4y ago
Industrialization under no-competition doesn't lead to professionalization (if you associate more than just "being paid" with it). When there are no clear metrics of what's good or bad, you can live with that as an amateur and trust your common sense and taste. However, when you become professional, in the face of no clear metrics you have to invent some (or your manager will invent some just for you). These invented metrics are then gamed and gamed again, as it doesn't matter if you actually meet them or not, since they're meaningless to begin with. By "no-competition" I mean for the professionals/employees. There's so much demand for programmers and so much money allocated for them that the limited supply makes it trivial and common to be a professional today with skills on the level of a script-kiddie from the '90s.

Isn't this just how technology progresses? Things start off as amateur pursuits but once a field becomes profiting making then professionals move in and industrialise things.

tannhaeuser 4y ago

Maybe, but somehow Microsoft Office with its VBA macros has managed to remain sane in comparison ;)

arrow7000 4y ago

This is a good response to the vast majority of curmudgeonly HN posts tbf

bigDinosaur 4y ago
C'mon, let's not imply that web developers are, generally speaking, professional. ;-)
tannhaeuser 4y ago
Idk "it is what it is" doesn't make an interesting conversation OTOH, does it?

int_19h 4y ago

I think it was meant to be a reference to this bit in the original CSS spec: "One of the fundamental features of CSS is that style sheets cascade; authors can attach a preferred style sheet, while the reader may have a personal style sheet to adjust for human or technological handicaps." So CSS was originally intended for both users and web devs, but web devs "hijacked" it to be for them alone - ultimately, by removing support for user stylesheets in the dominant web browser.

klibertp 4y ago

Industrialization under no-competition doesn't lead to professionalization (if you associate more than just "being paid" with it). When there are no clear metrics of what's good or bad, you can live with that as an amateur and trust your common sense and taste. However, when you become professional, in the face of no clear metrics you have to invent some (or your manager will invent some just for you). These invented metrics are then gamed and gamed again, as it doesn't matter if you actually meet them or not, since they're meaningless to begin with. By "no-competition" I mean for the professionals/employees. There's so much demand for programmers and so much money allocated for them that the limited supply makes it trivial and common to be a professional today with skills on the level of a script-kiddie from the '90s.