[MollyR]

Why can't we just code like professionals ?

Sidenote: Disclaimer: I was heavily influenced by my Biology professors. I don't think society evolved in vacuum separate from genetic evolution. So while I don't appreciate insulting people by gender. I do however think there are gender differences.

Another person on HN linked me to this documentary, which opened my mind. https://vimeo.com/19707588

[levosmetalo]

> Why can't we just code like professionals ?

That would pretty much mean the death of almost every open source project that depends on unpaid amateurs.

[liotier]

> Why can't we just code like professionals ?

Because we put our heart in it - so we code like amateurs. The best professionals are amateurs who just happen to be paid.

[MollyR]

Is it fair to say putting your heart into something makes you an amateur at something ?

I dunno, this feels off. Did I misunderstand the analogy ?

[liotier]

> Is it fair to say putting your heart into something makes you an amateur at something ?

Yes, that is the etymology of the word 'amateur' : 1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from French amateur "lover of," from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love" - http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=amateur

Later this word has been used derogatorily, but it is not its original meaning. When people use 'amateur' derogatorily, I believe that 'dilettante' is the more accurate word.

[MollyR]

Thanks, you're one of the reasons I like hackernews. I learn something new every day!

[kazinator]

The professional puts the customer's heart into something, not his own.

My heart says I should spend the next ten weeks optimizing this interesting function that gets called once a year, because all higher priority tasks look like boring grunt work.

[liotier]

> The professional puts the customer's heart into something, not his own.

I like your definition - it puts authenticity in caring for one's partner at the center of the professional relation... First time in a long time that I read "professional" and it does not ring empty !

[_bfhp]

Have you read "Delusions of Gender" by Cordelia Fine?

[MollyR]

Nope. I'll add it to the reading list.

However as I'm usually short on time, I'd prefer to just read the scientific articles for myself.

Do you have any notable scientific articles from the book references to recommend ?

[_bfhp]

The book has a Wikipedia page explaining what it is; it is an original scientific work, not a wrapper for other people's articles.

[Lawtonfogle]

>it is an original scientific work

What does this even mean really? That they did a bunch of research and instead of writing numerous papers wrong a single book? Does it give a detailed explanation of each experiment enough so that they can be repeated? Or is it like those pop-sci books that take a few specifically picked studies, a lot of anecdotes, and a few 'expert' interviews and try to get the average reader convinced on a point (which may or may not be correct)?

[MollyR]

I gotta say my enthusiasm is significantly dulled. I prefer scientific articles, because they tend to be peer-reviewed, and have a testable null hypothesis.

Its also why I avoid books like outliers by malcolm gladwell.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll probably check it out eventually.

[rmc]

> Why can't we just code like professionals ?

What does that mean? Suit and tie? Clean shaven, short back and sides?

[kazinator]

Professional means getting paid, but there is a nuance of doing a proper job to deserve pay (even if there is no pay); a FOSS project that hasn't received even a dime in donations can be professionally developed.

[MollyR]

I guess not professional appearance but professional standards.

Ex.I might expect a professional python programmer to follow PEP8 code style.

I think rather than coding like boy or coding like girl, we should be aspiring to be professional or at least competent . That's the far bigger and inclusive problem.