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Some problems with the Paul Graham quote mentioned in the article -- "...hear that the richest 5% of the people have half the total wealth, they tend to think

Some problems with the Paul Graham quote mentioned in the article -- "...hear that the richest 5% of the people have half the total wealth, they tend to think injustice! An experienced programmer would be more likely to think is that all? The top 5% of programmers probably write 99% of the good software." I've never understood this quote. First thing I don't understand is the last sentence -- I can't really imagine any scenario in which 5% of programmers have written 99% of the good software. What must PG's standards of good software be in order for this to be true? If anything, software development seems like a place where there is a healthy supply of people writing "good code", often working in large teams to make great projects. Second thing I don't understand is his analogy -- he's claiming that programming accomplishments is to software developers as money is to the rich? Huh? Is wealth a skill? So we've just assumed that because someone is rich, that it obviously means they've earned it through hard work... and not only hard work, but hard work on the order of how much time and effort was spent developing 99% of the good code in the world, which to me sounds problematic at best.

mikegreco 13y ago
Wealth, on a scale of being in the single digits percentage-wise, often has a lot to do with skill. Some skills, such as empire building, get you there faster than others. See Bill Gates as an example. First he built a tech empire, then a charitable empire. The man is very good at enacting world wide change. Secondly, 5% producing 99% sounds very reasonable. If you ever have the misfortune of having to work with code written by contracted companies, you would realize a LOT of code is slapped together with no care at all. The average person contributing to open source or participating on hacker news cares. The average person coding is looking for a paycheck, and doesn't give a single damn.
- dylandrop 13y ago
  Bill Gates is one anecdote, but what about the heir to a fortune? Did they build that wealth out of skill? Certainly not. Furthermore, so few people actually give half of their wealth like Bill Gates does [1]. Could you really argue that every wealthy person, or even a slim plurality mirrors Gates? Also -- you'd have to make vast assumptions to claim that such a huge percentage of programmers just don't care, enough to the point where their code isn't "good". It's not at all reasonable. I wouldn't consider myself in the top 5%, surely there are those who are more driven to improve their skill. But I wouldn't at all say that my code is careless or definitely not "good". Also Hacker News commenting doesn't really require caring, it just requires free time -- not sure what you're going for there. [1] http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Stubborn-2-Giving-Rate/139811/ http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Stubborn-2-Giving-Rate/1...

mikegreco 13y ago

Wealth, on a scale of being in the single digits percentage-wise, often has a lot to do with skill. Some skills, such as empire building, get you there faster than others. See Bill Gates as an example. First he built a tech empire, then a charitable empire. The man is very good at enacting world wide change. Secondly, 5% producing 99% sounds very reasonable. If you ever have the misfortune of having to work with code written by contracted companies, you would realize a LOT of code is slapped together with no care at all. The average person contributing to open source or participating on hacker news cares. The average person coding is looking for a paycheck, and doesn't give a single damn.

dylandrop 13y ago
Bill Gates is one anecdote, but what about the heir to a fortune? Did they build that wealth out of skill? Certainly not. Furthermore, so few people actually give half of their wealth like Bill Gates does [1]. Could you really argue that every wealthy person, or even a slim plurality mirrors Gates? Also -- you'd have to make vast assumptions to claim that such a huge percentage of programmers just don't care, enough to the point where their code isn't "good". It's not at all reasonable. I wouldn't consider myself in the top 5%, surely there are those who are more driven to improve their skill. But I wouldn't at all say that my code is careless or definitely not "good". Also Hacker News commenting doesn't really require caring, it just requires free time -- not sure what you're going for there. [1] http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Stubborn-2-Giving-Rate/139811/ http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Stubborn-2-Giving-Rate/1...