4 ms·

Are You The Best Developer In The World?

7 points by askorkin 17y ago

jcromartie 17y ago
Like this guy? http://girlvinyl.com/lj2009/Recent_Graduate_Programmer_Needed_-_C%23%2C_ASP.NET%2C_SQL_1248638229344-20090726-155736.jpg http://girlvinyl.com/lj2009/Recent_Graduate_Programmer_Neede...
edw519 17y ago
Are You The Best Developer In The World? I don't have to be. But I do have to be the best developer on what I'm working on. That's what I strive for. I want to be proud of everything I do.
helveticaman 17y ago
I aspire to being neither humble nor arrogant perception of myself; I aspire to having an accurate perception of my self worth in every area.
- askorkin 17y ago
  Exactly the point I was trying to make
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    I read a quote somewhere by Golda Meir, it went 'don't be humble, you're not that great'. There is a lot of meaning in there, for one, to be truly humble you first have to ascend to greatness. So for the majority of us ordinary mortals it's fine to be proud of our achievements. But to descend into arrogance is one step too far.
jacquesm 17y ago
Emphatically: NO. I'm definitely not the best developer in the world, I've met 18 year old kids that could literally run rings around me. But being 'best' in anything is not the criterium. Only one person can be 'best' at anything. But to put the whole workload of the world on the shoulders of that 'best' person is not feasible. So everybody contributes to their ability. And we try to learn as much as we can from the best.
- askorkin 17y ago
  Agreed, but also we not only try to learn from the best, but also try to teach what we know to those who know less.
  - wynand 17y ago
    As someone who's been at the receiving end of attempted teaching sessions (which occured because the self-appointed teachers overestimated their own knowledge, underestimated mine and never bothered finding out what I knew), I can only say that the best programmers do not try to teach, but will gladly share what they know when asked.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    That's very true, consider that a beta release bug ;) So how about: "And we try to learn as much as we can from the best and from each other." ?
    - askorkin 17y ago
      That's what I meant, (I guess I didn't express myself very well)
BigZaphod 17y ago
Oh hell yes! To put it another way: Have you heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Morons. (cough...)
- BigZaphod 17y ago
  Wow. Is "The Princess Bride" humor not allowed here or something? :P
  - askorkin 17y ago
    Oh yeah, now I get the reference :)
tybris 17y ago
Your greatest strength is knowing your weaknesses.
BigZaphod 17y ago
It's rare in my experience that anyone believes they really are the best developer ever. Generally programmers seem to be a pretty humble bunch, I think. Perhaps because the nature of our work is such that, in a sense, bugs are there because of our own personal failings and mistakes. We deal with that all day, every day. How could anyone, when faced with such an ever-present reminder of their own deficiencies, honestly think of themselves as the best? (Although in thinking about this, perhaps maintenance programmers are most prone to this as their task is largely to fix bugs in other people's code - not their own. It'd be easier to fall into that trap, I imagine.) I suspect that most "I'm the best ever" talk is just a game. A form of "blowing off steam." All the developers I know do that at least some of the time. Everyone knows better, though. It's all tongue in cheek stuff and just for fun. Often it ends after a few rounds of ludicrous build up to the point where the entire universe itself would have imploded if it wasn't for me... :)
anamax 17y ago
I've run into a number of writers whose stated goal was to write better than anyone who wrote faster. Using that definition, they could all be "best". What definition of "best" are we using?
neonscribe 17y ago
Pardon the copy editing, but let's not make up words when the exact word you want already exists. The word is "humility", not "humbleness".
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- bravura 17y ago
  And please don't correct someone for using a word that is a real word, nonetheless an unpopular one: http://www.answers.com/humbleness This reminds me of when I was told the word "priorly" was made up.
  - askorkin 17y ago
    Thanks for that, I've been copping flac left right and center even on twitter :)
rawr 17y ago
My favorite Slashdot comment on this subject matter was: "Every developer wants to think of themselves like House, M.D. where if they left the company it would fall apart. In reality, everyone is replaceable and if you got hit by a bus today in three months the company will have completely recovered."

7 points by askorkin 17y ago

Like this guy? http://girlvinyl.com/lj2009/Recent_Graduate_Programmer_Needed_-_C%23%2C_ASP.NET%2C_SQL_1248638229344-20090726-155736.jpg http://girlvinyl.com/lj2009/Recent_Graduate_Programmer_Neede...

edw519 17y ago

Are You The Best Developer In The World? I don't have to be. But I do have to be the best developer on what I'm working on. That's what I strive for. I want to be proud of everything I do.

helveticaman 17y ago

I aspire to being neither humble nor arrogant perception of myself; I aspire to having an accurate perception of my self worth in every area.

askorkin 17y ago
Exactly the point I was trying to make
- jacquesm 17y ago
  I read a quote somewhere by Golda Meir, it went 'don't be humble, you're not that great'. There is a lot of meaning in there, for one, to be truly humble you first have to ascend to greatness. So for the majority of us ordinary mortals it's fine to be proud of our achievements. But to descend into arrogance is one step too far.

jacquesm 17y ago

Emphatically: NO. I'm definitely not the best developer in the world, I've met 18 year old kids that could literally run rings around me. But being 'best' in anything is not the criterium. Only one person can be 'best' at anything. But to put the whole workload of the world on the shoulders of that 'best' person is not feasible. So everybody contributes to their ability. And we try to learn as much as we can from the best.

askorkin 17y ago
Agreed, but also we not only try to learn from the best, but also try to teach what we know to those who know less.
- wynand 17y ago
  As someone who's been at the receiving end of attempted teaching sessions (which occured because the self-appointed teachers overestimated their own knowledge, underestimated mine and never bothered finding out what I knew), I can only say that the best programmers do not try to teach, but will gladly share what they know when asked.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  That's very true, consider that a beta release bug ;) So how about: "And we try to learn as much as we can from the best and from each other." ?
  - askorkin 17y ago
    That's what I meant, (I guess I didn't express myself very well)

BigZaphod 17y ago

Oh hell yes! To put it another way: Have you heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Morons. (cough...)

BigZaphod 17y ago
Wow. Is "The Princess Bride" humor not allowed here or something? :P
- askorkin 17y ago
  Oh yeah, now I get the reference :)

tybris 17y ago

Your greatest strength is knowing your weaknesses.

BigZaphod 17y ago

It's rare in my experience that anyone believes they really are the best developer ever. Generally programmers seem to be a pretty humble bunch, I think. Perhaps because the nature of our work is such that, in a sense, bugs are there because of our own personal failings and mistakes. We deal with that all day, every day. How could anyone, when faced with such an ever-present reminder of their own deficiencies, honestly think of themselves as the best? (Although in thinking about this, perhaps maintenance programmers are most prone to this as their task is largely to fix bugs in other people's code - not their own. It'd be easier to fall into that trap, I imagine.) I suspect that most "I'm the best ever" talk is just a game. A form of "blowing off steam." All the developers I know do that at least some of the time. Everyone knows better, though. It's all tongue in cheek stuff and just for fun. Often it ends after a few rounds of ludicrous build up to the point where the entire universe itself would have imploded if it wasn't for me... :)

anamax 17y ago

I've run into a number of writers whose stated goal was to write better than anyone who wrote faster. Using that definition, they could all be "best". What definition of "best" are we using?

neonscribe 17y ago

Pardon the copy editing, but let's not make up words when the exact word you want already exists. The word is "humility", not "humbleness".

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
bravura 17y ago
And please don't correct someone for using a word that is a real word, nonetheless an unpopular one: http://www.answers.com/humbleness This reminds me of when I was told the word "priorly" was made up.
- askorkin 17y ago
  Thanks for that, I've been copping flac left right and center even on twitter :)

rawr 17y ago

My favorite Slashdot comment on this subject matter was: "Every developer wants to think of themselves like House, M.D. where if they left the company it would fall apart. In reality, everyone is replaceable and if you got hit by a bus today in three months the company will have completely recovered."