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I'm a bad software developer too. I've always had my suspicions, and nobody has commented on how bad my code is, but I'm convinced I too am bad. But here's the

I'm a bad software developer too. I've always had my suspicions, and nobody has commented on how bad my code is, but I'm convinced I too am bad. But here's the thing, the author (if that is you Colin) and I have both created things that people use. The author has even contributed to open source projects (I can't imagine my code would pass that mustard), so it can't be THAT bad. Is there a balance between creating beautiful code and actually solving problems? I'm constantly trying to get better at coding, but after years I still find myself making mistakes. Often mistakes that don't break code, but just are not efficient. So, what are we to do?

ColinWright 14y ago
But here's the thing, the author (if that is you Colin) and I have both created things that people use. I'm not the author, it's just something that I thought would resonate with the HN crowd, and about which they might be able to offer some thoughts and possible solutions. ... can the system be so wrong as to consistently overlook a good developer even if they are bad at interviews? Yes, it can. I'm sure that when I've been hiring I've overlooked or even actively passed on candidates that would have been excellent employees. The system is not set up to find the best programmers, or even the best employees. I do know what it is optimised for, but certainly good, and even excellent, programmers can easily be overlooked. Especially if they are bad at interviews.