Programmer Machismo

Nat Torkington:

It makes me realize how much of the macho meritocracy “it’s just about how GOOD YOU ARE” individual-excellence cocks-out culture in programming in general and open source in particular isn’t about what’s necessary to make good programs and good programmers, it’s what’s necessary to make great egos feel good about themselves.

1. [NM]

   Oh yeah, because when I think “macho meritocracy”, I think “coding”.

2. [pork musket]

   Damn those self-righteous bastards for wanting to be good at their craft.

3. [dculberson]

   “cocks-out culture in programming”

   Dude, I worked in the wrong shop. Oh wait, I mean, I worked in the right shop. I do not want to see those men’s cocks.

4. [infinity]

   after reading the quote above, let me try to translate it…

   “it is a good thing to try to be good at your craft. but the craft of software development is not ONLY about writing the most optimized code or generating the most code per hour. there is also a social aspect to software. you will, some day, be called upon to implement or design a feature for another human being; that is, the written documentation for the feature is sub-optimal and the clear understanding of the feature exists only in someone else’s brainstem. you will need to collaborate with this person effectively, potentially yielding to _their_ ego. there seem to be a number of highly effective individual programmers who are incapable of working effectively in a group in this way, especially in open source projects. this may lead to some great software, or it may limit the ability for FLOSS project’s contributors to manipulate abstract concepts effectively.”

   or the shorter version…

   “you’re not the smartest person in the room, if the room is the internet. acting like you are will limit your ability to collaborate with others.”

5. [Business email addresses]

   I think thats a rather bitter view of open source, sounds like someone might be out on there ear?