3 ms·

I like Hanselman but also think he's off base here. Some of that 99% are probably as he describes, but plenty are working on cool stuff with the latest tech, bu

I like Hanselman but also think he's off base here. Some of that 99% are probably as he describes, but plenty are working on cool stuff with the latest tech, but just aren't into social media or conferences.

ricardobeat 3y ago
This misunderstanding explains the animosity in the comments. Somehow using older tech is being conflated with being a lesser developer, and not being “cool”, when that’s kind of the opposite of the point of the post.
- strken 3y ago
  It's bizarre to suggest not going to conferences or keeping a blog means you're stuck on VB6 (released in 1998, 14 years before the post was written). It doesn't not mean that, either. The two things are unrelated to each other. Scott Hanselman is projecting the world view conference-goers and blog-posters onto everyone else. He is obsessed with modernity, so everyone else must be using stable technology; he worries that his bleeding-edge tools are problems in need of a solution, so everyone else must be producing. In reality, any given 99% of developers is going to be using a diverse and varied mess of different technologies of varying maturity levels. I don't think it's animosity at being called a lesser developer, but rather a baffled sense of insult at the claim that 99% of any group can be homogenous enough to teach lessons. Imagine a car enthusiast who drives a Porsche 911 writing the same article about the "dark 99%" who drive proven vehicles like a Toyota Camry (sensible passenger car) or a Mack Titan (gigantic truck used for pulling 200 tonne road trains) and are out there transporting. It's just a really weird claim to make given that the differences between his 1% and absolutely everyone else are dwarfed by the massive internal differences within that 99%.
  - jen20 3y ago
    > Scott Hanselman is projecting the world view conference-goers and blog-posters onto everyone else. He is obsessed with modernity Promoting adoption of the latest thing is the job of marketing, and his job for the past decade-or-more falls squarely into that category.
  - ricardobeat 3y ago
    The car enthusiast (or amateur race driver) is actually a pretty good analogy. Most people out there, including the Toyota and the mining truck driver, are likely not into the details of car construction, engines, and may not be up-to-date with the latest fuel injection tech that can give a 12% performance boost at high RPMs. And that’s totally ok and expected - they are using the vehicle as a tool to get jobs done. They might know enough to recognize a problem and know what model they want, but not get lost in details. The people who go to car meetups and follow all the engineering and racing teams will be much closer to modern tech. Because it requires them to know about the latest developments in order to stay in the conversation. What I disagree with is the % - it’s more like 90/10 instead, and most commenters here are probably in the 10% just for being on HN.
cgio 3y ago
I would actually expect that the majority of people working on cool stuff are Dark Matter.
- mattgreenrocks 3y ago
  Working at your limit leaves little room for signaling games, and much less desire for them.

ricardobeat 3y ago

This misunderstanding explains the animosity in the comments. Somehow using older tech is being conflated with being a lesser developer, and not being “cool”, when that’s kind of the opposite of the point of the post.

strken 3y ago
It's bizarre to suggest not going to conferences or keeping a blog means you're stuck on VB6 (released in 1998, 14 years before the post was written). It doesn't not mean that, either. The two things are unrelated to each other. Scott Hanselman is projecting the world view conference-goers and blog-posters onto everyone else. He is obsessed with modernity, so everyone else must be using stable technology; he worries that his bleeding-edge tools are problems in need of a solution, so everyone else must be producing. In reality, any given 99% of developers is going to be using a diverse and varied mess of different technologies of varying maturity levels. I don't think it's animosity at being called a lesser developer, but rather a baffled sense of insult at the claim that 99% of any group can be homogenous enough to teach lessons. Imagine a car enthusiast who drives a Porsche 911 writing the same article about the "dark 99%" who drive proven vehicles like a Toyota Camry (sensible passenger car) or a Mack Titan (gigantic truck used for pulling 200 tonne road trains) and are out there transporting. It's just a really weird claim to make given that the differences between his 1% and absolutely everyone else are dwarfed by the massive internal differences within that 99%.
- jen20 3y ago
  > Scott Hanselman is projecting the world view conference-goers and blog-posters onto everyone else. He is obsessed with modernity Promoting adoption of the latest thing is the job of marketing, and his job for the past decade-or-more falls squarely into that category.
- ricardobeat 3y ago
  The car enthusiast (or amateur race driver) is actually a pretty good analogy. Most people out there, including the Toyota and the mining truck driver, are likely not into the details of car construction, engines, and may not be up-to-date with the latest fuel injection tech that can give a 12% performance boost at high RPMs. And that’s totally ok and expected - they are using the vehicle as a tool to get jobs done. They might know enough to recognize a problem and know what model they want, but not get lost in details. The people who go to car meetups and follow all the engineering and racing teams will be much closer to modern tech. Because it requires them to know about the latest developments in order to stay in the conversation. What I disagree with is the % - it’s more like 90/10 instead, and most commenters here are probably in the 10% just for being on HN.

cgio 3y ago

I would actually expect that the majority of people working on cool stuff are Dark Matter.

mattgreenrocks 3y ago
Working at your limit leaves little room for signaling games, and much less desire for them.