[caymanjim]

I keep up with modern tech. I regularly learn new languages and frameworks. I lead agile dev teams. I work as a consultant modernizing devops and moving to cloud deployments. I write real software for real businesses doing real things.

I don't blog. I don't go to conferences. I don't go to hackathons. I don't have any meaningful presence on GitHub. Hacker News is about the only place I have even the slightest footprint, and most of what I talk about here has nothing to do with my career as a software engineer.

So what? The implication in this article is that if you're not out there trying to be visible, you must be some crusty old COBOL developer locked in the basement.

In my experience, the people who are the loudest are rarely the people who are doing the most. If you spend all your time trying to prove to strangers that you're hip to the latest trends, just how much time are you spending doing anything of actual value? Not everyone who has a big public presence is actually doing anything. Most of the discussions online and presentations at conferences are nothing new. Most of it is self-promotion. When I see people get all excited about tech, it's usually because it's new to them, not because it's a new idea.

[Mandatum]

Sure. I've met a lot of well-known authors at conferences and meetups. I've met people who work for big companies with R&D arms who are putting out content and products on the "bleeding edge" of technology (ala ThoughtWorks, IBM subsidiaries etc).

Most of these people love technology. They love learning about technology. They'd be perfectly happy working in technology, but because monetary success ends at being specialist consultant in a super lucrative field.. They stop.

Now they work in strategy and marketing around technology. Why? Because it's more lucrative. The job is more fun. They get to meet really, really smart people without having to work 60 hour weeks for $250K a year. (Which is great, of course, but these people have the soft-skills to add a multiplier to that amount.)

I'd be happy working 9-5 as a CRUD software developer with a great team in an OK company.

I'd be happy working in a very specialist field, earning $250K with an amazing team, in an amazing (funded) company (for a few years before shareholders start making demands).

I'm more happy working random hours around the world, meeting and talking with the smartest people in technology at a range of companies. I get to learn about what they've achieved, how they've achieved it.. Without having to burn the candle at both ends.. And I get to just play with whatever tech I feel like playing with.

They're different careers. A lot of people dabbling, or dipping their toes with blogging etc. are just doing it for a better portfolio when they company hop.

[xkcd-sucks]

Yeah it quickly becomes apparent in one's career that in order to actually realize any sort of personal vision it is necessary to be slotted into the "executive" box, except maybe in very large companies that have the spare resources to spend on Quality

[CM30]

> If you spend all your time trying to prove to strangers that you're hip to the latest trends, just how much time are you spending doing anything of actual value?

This is something I've wondered about a lot of social media users to be honest. I mean, if you're seeming spending all day on Twitter or what not, how are you finding the time to actually do any work? Do any of these super outgoing social media addicted conference every week developers actually have a full time job? Or is their entire career about promoting themselves?

[fxtentacle]

me too.

I would absolutely hate it to be interrupted in the middle of a good coding session by someone who wants to talk to me on twitter about the hype of the day.