Re:Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer
by gavinray on Friday October 08, 2021 @03:11PM
(#28802929)
> "I spent quite a bit of time on side projects and helping (as I thought) others with projects that I like. After many years of doing this I have come to the conclusion that I simply cannot produce really good code."
I have essentially no hobbies outside of programming, and a ton of side projects + OSS contributions in free time (check my GitHub) and I'm still no x10 dev.
Who cares if it's "GOOD" code -- did you have fun/did you enjoy it? It surely couldn't have been SHIT code, because you cared even the slightest degree.
Statistically, I figure most people writing code don't give a rat's ass and are there to pay rent.
"GOOD" is just skewed by the fact that you can also write code so brilliant it changes the course of humanity -- that's quite an upper bound to place on "great" or "10/10" code.
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On the topic of "x10 Developer/Engineer" and terminology:
You know "that 1 genius kid in the grade/school" who is just on a completely different level -- that's been my experience with these "x10" programmers.
There's a 17 year old in the Scala Discord (christ, she's legally a CHILD!) that I thought was a 30-something with some higher degree and was teaching me a bunch of stuff. I about spit out my drink when it casually came up in conversation from some older regular that she was 17.
Half of what she says I can't understand.
That's the sort of thing that comes to mind, for me anyways. Even though I live and breathe code, I think I'd have to be delusional to think I'd ever be as competent as her.
I could maybe memorize the amount of KNOWLEDGE she has currently, but there's a depth of understanding that I can't begin to comprehend.
Who cares if it's "GOOD" code -- did you have fun/did you enjoy it? It surely couldn't have been SHIT code, because you cared even the slightest degree.
Statistically, I figure most people writing code don't give a rat's ass and are there to pay rent.
"GOOD" is just skewed by the fact that you can also write code so brilliant it changes the course of humanity -- that's quite an upper bound to place on "great" or "10/10" code.
-------
On the topic of "x10 Developer/Engineer" and terminology:
You know "that 1 genius kid in the grade/school" who is just on a completely different level -- that's been my experience with these "x10" programmers.
There's a 17 year old in the Scala Discord (christ, she's legally a CHILD!) that I thought was a 30-something with some higher degree and was teaching me a bunch of stuff. I about spit out my drink when it casually came up in conversation from some older regular that she was 17.
Half of what she says I can't understand.
That's the sort of thing that comes to mind, for me anyways. Even though I live and breathe code, I think I'd have to be delusional to think I'd ever be as competent as her.
I could maybe memorize the amount of KNOWLEDGE she has currently, but there's a depth of understanding that I can't begin to comprehend.