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> There was a thread a while back where software developers told me I was unreasonable to expect them to know who the vice president of the country they lived i

by maratd 11y ago

> There was a thread a while back where software developers told me I was unreasonable to expect them to know who the vice president of the country they lived in was. It is absolutely unreasonable. The average person has no clue who the vice president happens to be ... so why should software developers? We can complain about how clueless average people are, sure, but there's no reason to apply a higher standard to software developers.

badkitten 11y ago
Of course there is. Software developers (in general) are smarter and have had better educations than "average" people. Most smart, educated people I know can name the vice president of the United States, and I don't even live in the US. I think it's completely unreasonable for someone not to know who the vice president of the country they live in is.
- monknomo 11y ago
  The corner office in the earlier example depends on the software being written to make money. If the software is bad, they will make less money. By and large, knowing the vice president's name will not cause any appreciable dip or rise in how much money a company makes. So, in the context of 'why is it important for business people who's livelihoods partially depend on code to know what code is?' not knowing what programmers do is worse than not knowing the vice president's name
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- shard 11y ago
  Regarding you and your acquaintances' knowledge of who the vice president of the US is, I think that's probably contextual knowledge. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them doesn't know who the premier of China is, the second in power of a country arguably on the same power and influence scale as the US.
tempestn 11y ago
Wait, what? The average person doesn't know who the vice president of their own country is? I'm Canadian and I still know who the US vice president is. Surely most American adults do too.
- parasubvert 11y ago
  Nope: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368482/How-ignorant-Americans-An-alarming-number-U-S-citizens-dont-know-basic-facts-country.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368482/How-ignorant... Lots of people hate politics and really avoid any study of it.
  - tempestn 11y ago
    From your link: "...who is the Vice President of America? (29 per cent did not know)" So the majority of Americans do indeed know who the vice president is. (Although yes, a large minority don't.)
    - maratd 11y ago
      The data is from the US Citizenship test, so those taking it aren't "Americans" yet and have been specifically studying for the test. I stand by my assertion that the majority of Americans have no clue who Biden is and I swear to you, I wish I didn't either. The whole political arena is absolutely revolting and I'm not surprised the majority of people are apathetic to it.
      - tempestn 11y ago
        Actually it says they gave the citizenship test to 1000 Americans to see how they would do. 29% didn't know who the VP was (so 71% did). 1000 isn't a massive sample, but I expect it's enough to say that the majority of American adults do know. Anyway, it isn't a very interesting discussion regardless.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    > Stumped: In the U.S. citizenship test, only 38 per cent of Americans passed > Although the majority passed, more than a third - 38 per cent - failed, Daily Mail is fucking useless.

by maratd 11y ago

badkitten 11y ago

Of course there is. Software developers (in general) are smarter and have had better educations than "average" people. Most smart, educated people I know can name the vice president of the United States, and I don't even live in the US. I think it's completely unreasonable for someone not to know who the vice president of the country they live in is.

monknomo 11y ago
The corner office in the earlier example depends on the software being written to make money. If the software is bad, they will make less money. By and large, knowing the vice president's name will not cause any appreciable dip or rise in how much money a company makes. So, in the context of 'why is it important for business people who's livelihoods partially depend on code to know what code is?' not knowing what programmers do is worse than not knowing the vice president's name
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
shard 11y ago
Regarding you and your acquaintances' knowledge of who the vice president of the US is, I think that's probably contextual knowledge. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them doesn't know who the premier of China is, the second in power of a country arguably on the same power and influence scale as the US.

tempestn 11y ago

Wait, what? The average person doesn't know who the vice president of their own country is? I'm Canadian and I still know who the US vice president is. Surely most American adults do too.

parasubvert 11y ago
Nope: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368482/How-ignorant-Americans-An-alarming-number-U-S-citizens-dont-know-basic-facts-country.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368482/How-ignorant... Lots of people hate politics and really avoid any study of it.
- tempestn 11y ago
  From your link: "...who is the Vice President of America? (29 per cent did not know)" So the majority of Americans do indeed know who the vice president is. (Although yes, a large minority don't.)
  - maratd 11y ago
    The data is from the US Citizenship test, so those taking it aren't "Americans" yet and have been specifically studying for the test. I stand by my assertion that the majority of Americans have no clue who Biden is and I swear to you, I wish I didn't either. The whole political arena is absolutely revolting and I'm not surprised the majority of people are apathetic to it.
    - tempestn 11y ago
      Actually it says they gave the citizenship test to 1000 Americans to see how they would do. 29% didn't know who the VP was (so 71% did). 1000 isn't a massive sample, but I expect it's enough to say that the majority of American adults do know. Anyway, it isn't a very interesting discussion regardless.
- DanBC 11y ago
  > Stumped: In the U.S. citizenship test, only 38 per cent of Americans passed > Although the majority passed, more than a third - 38 per cent - failed, Daily Mail is fucking useless.