You don't need talent or passion to program well

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Think you don't have enough talent to become a programmer? Need a passion, an obsession with work? Not really. And so many cool developers think so.

Since childhood, all cool programmers have dreamed of writing code. And if this is not about you, then you either do not exist, or a failure and generally not suitable for the great and terrible programming (aspirated).

These deep-seated stereotypes are completely wrong. They are also harmful, as many successful programmers believe.

Jacob Kaplan-Moss

The myth of the genius of programmers is dangerous. On the one hand, he overestimates the entry requirements into this area, scaring away from the profession. On the other hand, the myth persecutes specialists. After all, if you are not obsessed with the code, you are, of course, a loser. As a result, the programmer must either code or learn to code better and more, and this affects the quality of life. We need to get rid of this approach. Programming is just a skill set that doesn't require a lot of talent. And it's not at all a shame to be an ordinary programmer.

Jacob's Twitter page states that the creator of Django is a "fake programmer." Because he was tired of the false idea of the profession.

Jacob Thornton worked as a programmer at Twitter and now at Medium. He also came up with Bootstrap, a framework that has garnered 80,000 stars on the GitHub platform. And the words of this coder also dispel the myth about programming inaccessible to mere mortals.

Jacob Thornton

I hate computers. I was going to study sociology at the New School in New York.

I got a job even though I didn't have any of the skills I needed. I could have been fired at any time. I worked hard on my advanced JavaScript course because I didn't understand what was going on. And I had no other choice.

One of the creepiest moments in my life was when the entire startup team gathered around me and asked me to resolve the issue with cross-domain requests. I have never done this, I only approximately understood what it was all about. I started coding and updating the browser. Nothing has changed. And so several times in a row. I was starting to get hysterical: more than ever I was close to failure. And then I realized that I forgot to add.send () to the code. I fixed the mistake, got the result, the team smiled and went back to work.

I sat for 15 minutes and ran the same thought in my head. Here it is. I managed. I will not be fired.

The story bears little resemblance to the description of the fast-paced career of a genius programmer. So where does motivation come from? Jacob replies: “I am a socially responsible person. My friends, front-end developers, will always inform me in unflattering terms that my attempts to make rounded corners have failed or that the new feature looks disgusting in a particular browser. I like. I just enjoy coding and working with friends."

On Twitter, Jacob Thornton calls himself a "computer loser." Most popular post in the feed: "I am the worst engineer in the company, but I am in the top three." Doesn't fit the description of a typical programmer, right?

The comments of another pro, (Rasmus Lerdorf), are often controversial.

• “I hate programming. But I love to solve problems."
• “There are people in the world who sincerely love to program. I do not understand them".
• “I'm not a real programmer. I put all sorts of things together until it starts working. Then I move on. A real programmer will say, "Ok, this works, but this is a memory leak, we need to fix it." And I just restart Apache every 10 requests."

It is difficult to discern any special love for computers in his words. Like both Jacob, who do not fit the myths of great coders, he kind of pretends to be a programmer.

David Heinemeier Hansson Creator of Rails

It's fun. When I used PHP or wrote in Java, I was always looking for something else, another programming language. Just to have fun, because programming languages are boring. Working with PHP and Java, I had no intention of being a programmer.

Another review about myself, which has nothing to do with the image of a computer genius. Eventually David Heinemeyer Hansson fell in love with the elegance of Ruby, not programs and computers. If Ruby hadn't been invented, it would have been doing something diametrically opposite.

As it is already clear, there are countless articles and interviews that refute stereotypes about programmers. They also like to joke on this topic. Here are a couple of but true coding quotes from the developers themselves:

• What one crappy software, another - a full-time job.
• Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. A good programmer writes human-readable code.
• Programs and churches are very similar. We build them first. Then we pray that it will work.

If programmers really need a lot of talent and dedication, then why are such jokes popular among professionals?

While you are learning to program, you will be told that you are doing everything wrong. They will explain to you why you are not a true coder. Trying to be a "real geek" will drive you crazy.

Yes, this article is against programming stereotypes. About senseless myths that this great art is available only to a select few. The next time you think about whether you have enough abilities, and whether you have enough skills, and not send this programming to hell, take a break. Try other methods. Often the problem lies in how you learn. In your attitude to the curriculum. And don't give up until you approach the problem in different ways.

It doesn't take talent or passion to be a programmer.