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I seriously doubt that. It's not like most programmers live in a bubble and never have contact with other people. As a programmer you usually accumulate detail
by kitsune_ 14y ago
I seriously doubt that. It's not like most programmers live in a bubble and never have contact with other people.
As a programmer you usually accumulate detailed domain knowledge in a variety of industries. You often end up knowing more about the core business of a company than their individual stakeholders and employees. Programming requires specifications, and often, an IT project forces companies to identify and formulate business processes for the first time. Often this leads to the realization that existing processes are simply broken.
On top of that, you get a feel for how companies work. As an example: internal politics, warring departments battling each other. You see good and bad examples of leadership and management.
In meetings with clients I often feel more like a management consultant than a programmer.
- pavlov 14y agoThe OP is writing about an "entry level programmer with high level university training". Someone fresh out of university probably hasn't accumulated useful domain knowledge from real-world industries. Hence the suggestion of "Avoid getting a job, just program something for money!" seems dubious.
- wpietri 14y agoRunning a successful business isn't about knowledge. It's about skill. The first time I started a business, I thought, "Hell, I understand all the technical stuff, and the rest looks simple. How hard could it be?" The joke was on me, for sure. It turns out it is very hard. Extremely rewarding, certainly, even if not financially: almost every entrepreneur I know could have made much better money in some bullshit corporate job. But the notion that if "an entry level programmer [...] sits down and starts creating his own software, he will probably earn much more one year later by himself already"? I'm confident saying that's arrogant youthful idiocy, because that's exactly what I was full of when I started out on my own.
- skerrit_bwoy 14y agoMost programmers are retarded about everything but programming. Everybody knows this, hence Big Bang Theory, nerd culture, etc. Acid test: how good are you at picking up chicks? That's a pretty good proxy measure of how good you'll be at sales/marketing.