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You'll get good and bad developers no matter what language you program in. Your career is more dependent upon whether you can work with people who are difficult

You'll get good and bad developers no matter what language you program in. Your career is more dependent upon whether you can work with people who are difficult to work with or not, rather than your skill in technology X. Technologies change; people don't. If you want to succeed, treat fixing your people problems as higher priority. And don't fall into the trap of the "people who use technology X are better people" line of thinking. Words from a 20 year veteran of the industry.

codygman 11y ago
> You'll get good and bad developers no matter what language you program in. Your career is more dependent upon whether you can work with people who are difficult to work with or not, rather than your skill in technology X. There is truth in this, but a bad Haskell developer is less likely to be able to get their program to compile than say a bad Java developer. This makes it easier to weed out bad Haskell developers.
AnimalMuppet 11y ago
> You'll get good and bad developers no matter what language you program in. You'll also get good and bad human beings no matter what language you program in. The bad human beings will treat people around them like dirt. No matter how good a programmer they may be, it's not worth it. Then there's the "not evil, but their personality needs some debugging" people...
suls 11y ago
> Technologies change; people don't. If you want to succeed, treat fixing your people problems as higher priority. 1/ Isn't this statment contradicting itself? How can you fix people problems if they don't change? Or maybe you "replacing" rather than fixing? 2/ What tools or methods have you experienced in those 20 years? Were any of them suitable for a bottom-up approach?
- kstenerud 11y ago
  1/ Probably a better description would be "human nature". There are certain ways people tend to work and interact, and you discover those as you go along in life, as well as ways to manage them. 2/ Mostly it involves facilitating self-actualization in those you're managing. People want to feel like they are being heard, and are making a useful contribution. There are exceptions, of course, but I'm talking about the norms. Some people have bad habits that need to be broken. Others are fearful and need encouragement. Others are thin-skinned and need more experience working with teams. People go through life challenges, crises, epiphanies... Even if you're not a manager, it behooves you to learn humanity and how it works. It's one of the few things in the technology sector that doesn't change.

codygman 11y ago

> You'll get good and bad developers no matter what language you program in. Your career is more dependent upon whether you can work with people who are difficult to work with or not, rather than your skill in technology X. There is truth in this, but a bad Haskell developer is less likely to be able to get their program to compile than say a bad Java developer. This makes it easier to weed out bad Haskell developers.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago

> You'll get good and bad developers no matter what language you program in. You'll also get good and bad human beings no matter what language you program in. The bad human beings will treat people around them like dirt. No matter how good a programmer they may be, it's not worth it. Then there's the "not evil, but their personality needs some debugging" people...

suls 11y ago

> Technologies change; people don't. If you want to succeed, treat fixing your people problems as higher priority. 1/ Isn't this statment contradicting itself? How can you fix people problems if they don't change? Or maybe you "replacing" rather than fixing? 2/ What tools or methods have you experienced in those 20 years? Were any of them suitable for a bottom-up approach?

kstenerud 11y ago
1/ Probably a better description would be "human nature". There are certain ways people tend to work and interact, and you discover those as you go along in life, as well as ways to manage them. 2/ Mostly it involves facilitating self-actualization in those you're managing. People want to feel like they are being heard, and are making a useful contribution. There are exceptions, of course, but I'm talking about the norms. Some people have bad habits that need to be broken. Others are fearful and need encouragement. Others are thin-skinned and need more experience working with teams. People go through life challenges, crises, epiphanies... Even if you're not a manager, it behooves you to learn humanity and how it works. It's one of the few things in the technology sector that doesn't change.