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What exactly is a "valuable programmer"? It's about as vague a notion as being "well versed in computers". Edit : essentially, you just re-defined bar without

by doktrin 14y ago

What exactly is a "valuable programmer"? It's about as vague a notion as being "well versed in computers". Edit : essentially, you just re-defined bar without providing any real context. Taken a step further (and perhaps in a different job market), someone might say "oh, well being a valuable programmer isn't the same as being a Rockstar programmer..." The key lies in the word "valuable", which is completely situational and vague, whereas "programmer" is not.

elbear 14y ago
I don't know exactly what a valuable programmer is, but I'll give you numbers regarding my situation, so that we talk about concrete things. I do Python/Django work and I have 3 years of experience. I have a GitHub profile which I show when applying for jobs and my profile shows that I've made 359 contributions in the last year. I have a LinkedIn profile through which details the technologies I use and the experience I have. Since the start of the year, I think I've been contacted by 10 recruiters with job proposals. I chose to work remotely though, with clients outside of my country.
cookiecaper 14y ago
A valuable programmer, in this context, is someone who seeks to get paid by a company to write code and would have a significant (as far as individual employees go) net-positive influence on that company's financials.
- doktrin 14y ago
  So returning to the statement "...you can get a job just fine without a degree..." comes with an important caveat. Namely, that you can get a job "just fine" if you're a programmer of sufficient talent and knowledge to be able to be a net-positive influence on a company's financials. YMMW, but that's a relatively high bar. Higher, at least, than the ease that "just fine" (IMHO) implies. It's certainly possible, but non-trivial.
  - cookiecaper 14y ago
    I'm pretty sure the concept of employment in general is that any employee is going to supply ample net financial upside to the employer. If you have the skills to be employable as a programmer, you should not need a college degree to find work.

by doktrin 14y ago

elbear 14y ago

I don't know exactly what a valuable programmer is, but I'll give you numbers regarding my situation, so that we talk about concrete things. I do Python/Django work and I have 3 years of experience. I have a GitHub profile which I show when applying for jobs and my profile shows that I've made 359 contributions in the last year. I have a LinkedIn profile through which details the technologies I use and the experience I have. Since the start of the year, I think I've been contacted by 10 recruiters with job proposals. I chose to work remotely though, with clients outside of my country.

cookiecaper 14y ago

A valuable programmer, in this context, is someone who seeks to get paid by a company to write code and would have a significant (as far as individual employees go) net-positive influence on that company's financials.

doktrin 14y ago
So returning to the statement "...you can get a job just fine without a degree..." comes with an important caveat. Namely, that you can get a job "just fine" if you're a programmer of sufficient talent and knowledge to be able to be a net-positive influence on a company's financials. YMMW, but that's a relatively high bar. Higher, at least, than the ease that "just fine" (IMHO) implies. It's certainly possible, but non-trivial.
- cookiecaper 14y ago
  I'm pretty sure the concept of employment in general is that any employee is going to supply ample net financial upside to the employer. If you have the skills to be employable as a programmer, you should not need a college degree to find work.