[Selfcommit]

I respect some of what’s being said about “mappers” vs “packers” - but the article presents the idea that there are 2 kinds of programmer and you’re one or the other, largely based on growth as a “real” mapper.

I think a more realistic description is that everyone is a mapper. There isn’t a single body of knowledge that is “software engineering” - so it’s ok to encounter something new, “pack” it, then map it if it’s valuable.

Far better to encourage mapping than create false dichotomies that can easily work their way into cultural fit interviews.

“The candidate failed to find an obscure error in the JS console… clearly a packer - no hire”.

[projektfu]

I think it's hard to develop a deep understanding of what's behind all the interfaces that are used now in software development. When I was starting out, if you wanted operational complexity you went the mainframe route, and most of us would instead have been working on a deep understanding of Turbo Pascal/DOS or Mac Toolbox or something of that nature. Things change and now we can call forth powerful distributed networks in seconds, run them for minutes to years, and tear them down instantly. Instead of running a main application and a few things on the side, the majority of the runtime of common systems is pre-fab with a veneer of glue that is supplied by the programmer. It's great, but it forces a different skill set. People with my personality could spend 6 months reading, tinkering with, and understanding Docker before becoming as minimally productive as a person who would be described as a "Packer" in this essay would in a couple days. While they might plateau and be unable to fix a problem, the "Just Mapper" might not be gainfully employed in that niche anymore.

I will say that I heard and probably paraphrased this rant before, when I was dealing with similar cookbook-style code on much simpler systems. People with deeper understanding, who can make sense of a disassembly or Wireshark output, do get called in to figure things out if another layer of copypasta isn't fixing things. But the market has shown that the packer has more fitness to the environment.

I do agree, though, that the term "senior" has become meaningless. This is true in other disciplines like veterinary medicine, where only a naive person would become a medical director.

[make3]

yes the article creates a tik tok level dichotomy between two things that everyone with any amount of experience is obviously both to a pretty advanced degree