Re:Ask HN: Is programming ability inversely correlated to so...
by tedmiston on Monday May 27, 2019 @03:05PM
(#20024502)
Honestly, contrarian opinion ahead, but I don't think so.
Software engineering is design just like anything else. Being able to clearly communicate the components, workflows, thought process, etc is a sign it's built well. (I'm interpreting "better programmer" to mean one who builds software well or better than average.) Whether that conversation is with a peer, maintainer, or end user, I think the same principle is at work.
This is premised on the idea that I believe peer reviews of code and designs are fundamentally a good thing. Talking with more people to get more relevant feedback makes for a better system overall.
Context switching is for sure a thing when in the moment of building a system, and having our time in meetings definitely spends our finite attention on those meetings rather than building things. Some amount of meetings is inevitable in any job though. Personally I try to cluster my meetings and prefer them later in the day.
Software engineering is design just like anything else. Being able to clearly communicate the components, workflows, thought process, etc is a sign it's built well. (I'm interpreting "better programmer" to mean one who builds software well or better than average.) Whether that conversation is with a peer, maintainer, or end user, I think the same principle is at work.
This is premised on the idea that I believe peer reviews of code and designs are fundamentally a good thing. Talking with more people to get more relevant feedback makes for a better system overall.
Context switching is for sure a thing when in the moment of building a system, and having our time in meetings definitely spends our finite attention on those meetings rather than building things. Some amount of meetings is inevitable in any job though. Personally I try to cluster my meetings and prefer them later in the day.