Re:John Carmack: Career Advice
by silicon2401 on Tuesday December 22, 2020 @02:00PM
(#25509807)
I disagree, I can easily imagine somebody having full metal to UI knowledge. Obviously not knowing every programming language, all types of electrical engineering applications, etc. But it's totally feasible to be able to have a sense of understanding from metal to front-end at least to an extent.
Note that I am speaking of "competence", and you're mentioning "knowledge" and "sense of understanding". Not really the same thing.
Separately, "the stack" is inherently polyglot, and even aggressively pruning the selection wherever possible and eliding many formats, tools, and protocols still gives you an absolutely minimal set like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, HTTPS, TCP/IP, SQL, C/C++, Assembly, & VHDL.
Re:John Carmack: Career Advice
by silicon2401 on Tuesday December 22, 2020 @02:43PM
(#25510281)
You can replace what I said with competence, and I still claim it. I think it's fully possible for people to be competent from metal to frontend, and I'm sure there are at least a few out there who are.
There really isn't anyone on the planet who is truly a "full stack developer" and competent from the front-end all the way down to the OS and bare metal. No one.
Most developers stick to a particular layer, and are only familiar with adjacent layers to the extent of being able to have arguments with those developers. A 5x-ish developer is competent in those adjacent layers as well. A 10x developer either has mastery of their chosen layer, adds additional competency layers, adds competencies on the connecting tech between chosen layers (ie. not just front-end + backend, but networking too), has relevant domain competencies, or some combination.
So, just pick an entry point, learn as much of it as you want, check out whatever is adjacent, follow your interests, and periodically evaluate whether you need/want to change course or dig deeper into technologies, tools, domains, etc. wherever you happen to be. Even if you end up wandering quite far from where you started, the experience and knowledge you gain on the way isn't likely to be "wasted", unless it is mastery of some in-house tech or tool that literally no other organization uses.