In the old days there was actually quite a few companies that was created and run by people with very little programming experience but a lot of business sense. In about 1995 I worked for a company that had sold their business system to companies like Eriksson and Dell. But the codebase was about 5 million codes of CBasic, copy and paste programming and GOTOs everywhere. It all started in a guys basement in early eighties. It all started to crumble around the time I was there, because porting that old DOS system to Windows just wasn't possible. And a ew batches of thousand of tons of steel had got lost for big a customer in our inventory management system...

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that just because someone had developed a successful (in making money) product doesn't mean they are actually good at programming.

Software development classes are mandatory for some courses, and it is not that uncommon to find some already-not-so-green programmers in them. Some are just looking for the certification at the end of their programme.

> Generally my experience with people who are demonstrably successful is that they are not insecure like you described.

Is it really insecurity? Teasing someone about their previous arrogance when they're actually a beginner is one of the better forms of putting-down IMO. Teaches 'pride cometh before fall' and all that. And a group project is a quite informal space to do that in.

I agree. As colleagues/collaborators it is almost a responsibility to keep each other in check like this. As long as it is skillfully applied and empathic. Sprinkling a bit of humor on top can help too (for both sides).

I think he was just going back to get his degree. I should say that it was just a shareware product he had developed that I was talking about. I don't remember what he had done for a living up to that point.