Re:Why Hacker News Thinks PHP Won Something
by ryanwaggoner on Sunday January 18, 2009 @02:41AM
(#439178)
A commodity can only compete on location and price, and location doesn't really get you much on the Internet.
I used to think this until I started freelancing, but it's much easier to get quality jobs if you can meet with the client face-to-face at the start of the gig.
If you program only in the most popular programming language, you have made yourself a commodity.
The author seems to think that one PHP programmer is just as good as the next, but there's a whole litany of skills beyond just writing code in whatever language that make someone desirable to a client or employer, from communication to product design. Programmers are not cogs in a machine that you can replace easily as long as you find one that speaks the right language.
I used to think this until I started freelancing, but it's much easier to get quality jobs if you can meet with the client face-to-face at the start of the gig.
If you program only in the most popular programming language, you have made yourself a commodity.
The author seems to think that one PHP programmer is just as good as the next, but there's a whole litany of skills beyond just writing code in whatever language that make someone desirable to a client or employer, from communication to product design. Programmers are not cogs in a machine that you can replace easily as long as you find one that speaks the right language.