| > Two, the software talent market is bifurcated. There is basically commodity development of crud apps, and technically complex novel development. I’ve been making this point for years. I think it’s telling that other nearby disciplines are bifurcated. Electrical engineers vs electricians. Architects vs builders. Etc. The virtues of a good electrician are that they’re reliable, have good customer service and they work efficiently. A good building company can bring a building up in time and in budget. But beautiful architecture work doesn’t share those values. The best architecture is bold and creative, and still has people talking years later. I think this split already exists in programming. We just don’t admit it to ourselves. It’s different work inventing React vs using it to make a website. Inventing react, or rust, or redis requires considered boldness. It takes time to nurture the right insights to make it right. In contrast, the virtues of a good web consultancy team look more like the virtues of an electrician: Good customer service. Clear estimations. Work delivered on time & on budget. But we’re so enamoured with the idea of ourselves as “elite hackers” that clock in / clock out programmers can’t give up the mantle. I get it. But it’s stupid. There’s no point evaluating candidates on their ability to reimplement a btree from scratch if their job is to style buttons. You’re evaluating people for a different job. Test their software estimation skills. Their social skills. Ask about workflow and productivity. Essays like this one ask “where did all the hackers go?”. They’re still around, they’re just harder to find now. They went into weird crypto projects. Llama.cpp. Obsessive database projects like scylladb. They’re inventing rust, and finding security vulnerabilities in io_uring for that sweet Google bug bounty money. They’re in the demoscene or making programmatic art for burning man. Do you need real hackers at your company? It depends. Are you making an apartment building (on time, on budget) or the Sydney Opera House - which is iconic now, but was almost never finished because of delays and creative disagreements? They aren’t the same kind of work. |
Damn, that burns. It’s true though.