Programming as a Profession
From: Programmer Dude (Chris_at_Sonnack.com)
Date: 01/24/05
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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 14:34:35 -0600
Ufit writes:
> Thats exactly what's going on. If you have a large database with
> collected codes you don't have to rewrite projects but slightly
> modify and sell to bunch of other 'dudes'. That is what destroys
> coding development and IT branch.
> IMO if you buy from such people you are killing or contributing
> to destroying the economy.
No, just destroying your view of what the economy *ought* to be.
There will always BE an economy.... just not the one WE want!!
While I hate the offshore trend right now, I believe we'll never
change it until we as programmers get our act together and start
offering something perceived as valuable to business, and a big
part of that is recognizing the difference between serious
professional programmer's, wannabes and "also rans".
MOST other professions with such a range of worker quality are
not taken very seriously. I believe that it will be only when we
offer a truly professional face that WE will be taken seriously.
Consider an example.
Around here--upper Midwest--every Wells Fargo ATM I visit has, in
large bright yellow letters, on at least two screens, the proudly
misspelled word, "CHEKCING". [teeth grind]
Says a lot about Q/A doesn't it. Large Yellow letters. Hard to
miss, and it makes me want to change banks every time I visit the
ATM. The sheer ineptness behind such a boner boggles my mind.
And having the work done by some non-English-speaking programmer
is no excuse. My work covers installs in S.America, Europe and
China, and you can believe I check, check and check again with
someone who knows how to f**king spell words in their language.
Let's just hope Wells Fargo's PMO incompetence doesn't extend to
the code that manages the $$.
Or, while I'm on the subject of "professional" programmers, this
example (can't name names on this one--not, not MS, the vendor
has a VB API):
I recently encountered a situation with a vendor API that resulted
in the following startling test:
Dim got_record As Boolean
got_record = object.FirstRecord()
If got_record Then
Print "Got Record!"
End If
If Not got_record Then
Print "Not Got Record!"
End If
Just imagine my jaw dropping when I ran this test and got:
Got Record!
Not Got Record!
?!?!?!?!?!
Reason turned out to be that the vendor implemented their boolean
as 0=false, 1=true and since VB's NOT just reverses bits, well,
Not(1) = (-2).
Investigation proves there is no thoughtful reason for such a daft
choice--apparently seemed like a good idea to someone who really
didn't understand the consequences (yet, inexplicably, was charged
with implementing a language and API).
[sigh]
Other than a self-selecting place like this (once nuubs are filtered),
for every ten programmers I meet, maybe two are really competent, at
least one or two *really* need to seek another profession, and the
others might be saved through intensive mentoring and shock therapy.
Until WE change that, until I have approximately the same guarentee
of quality I'd get seeking a lawyer or doctor, then we have little to
offer to offset cheap second/third world programmers.
And tell you what, many of those guys and gals treat it a lot more
seriously. The two Indian programmers in my office are very, very
sharp and capable.
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