> This is why people taking pride in being programmers has always confused me.
What exactly does “taking pride in being programmers” means to you? I once read an article that was suggesting that one should call themselves a software developer and not a programmer. Maybe you mean it in that sense?
I take pride in being a programmer, but that is not a well defined statement and perhaps I mean something else by it than what you mean.
There is the machine and it is really really complicated. It can do a lot of things, but sometimes what it can do is not exactly what is needed. Then the users either put in a lot of elbow-grease to get what they want done, or worse they declare that it is impossible to achieve it and what is needed doesn’t get done. Then a programmer goes by and notices this. They see that something is done inefficiently, with a lot of pain to the users and the business, and the programmer says: “You know it doesn’t have to be this way. We can make the machine do the right thing for us. After all we are the masters of the machine, it should serve us, not the other way around.” And the users very often can’t believe this. They don’t think this way. They very often bug out their eyes and state that it cannot be done, because there is no time, or budget, or it is just simply impossible. And then the programmer sits down works a bit (10 minutes, or a week, or a month, depending on the complexity and the value of the problem) and shows them that it was not impossible. The machine didn’t serve us before and now it does. This is what it means to me to be a programer. You go around, find problems you can solve for people and you solve them.
Maybe you are a terrible hack who copy-pastes together scripts from stackoverflow until they kinda work, maybe you are a real engineer who can build elegant and well tested reliable solutions to hard problems. If you can make the computer work for you and master it you are a programmer in my book and I think you should feel proud of it.
My first post was poorly written. I didn't mean to imply that taking pride in a job well done was bad. I don't think it is. I think programmers have plenty of reason to be happy when they do good work[1]--what I think is foolish is having visions of grandeur when it comes to programming, which in my opinion is what _why seemed to have based on his reasoning for quitting. I could be way off mark, but that's my take.
I mentioned this in another comment, but I think it also has to do with a confusion of categories. _why seemed to want recognition akin to that received by, e.g. Thomas Bernhard, Kafka, for something like shoes or his other software/libraries or general contributions to computing. But the issue is these things will always be utilities for specialists, and any aesthetic properties they have (elegant design, expression, etc.) are secondary to their functioning and they'll always be relegated to the dusty realm of specialists since the code is not the product--the software is. One can write code to create an aesthetic object that is enjoyed and revered by the masses, but I have a hard time envisioning a future in which the masses will ever enjoy and revere code or engineering for its own sake.
Pride was the wrong word to use and one I lazily reached for. After reading your comment, you've helped me realize that what I advise against is misapplication of expectations to different categories of things. _why seemed to want an aesthetic reception and legacy on a general, popular scale for work that is ultimately only a utility to the vast majority of the population and indeed, not even accessible to the population, and even if it were, I don't think many people would admire programming libs for fun--such a hobby will remain the lot of only enthusiasts. There is no pop coding like there is pop music.
[1]: Though I'd also argue that much of what you state taking pride in is not programming--which is just expressing ideas in programming languages--what you are talking about is engineering/design, which can be done perfectly well and separately from the programming part. we just happen to solve a lot of problems with computers these days so we need to express solutions for computers to consume and we tend to blend those responsibilities (we'll one day get to a point where the computers do most of the programming and we just design https://github.com/nadia-polikarpova/synquid)
What exactly does “taking pride in being programmers” means to you? I once read an article that was suggesting that one should call themselves a software developer and not a programmer. Maybe you mean it in that sense?
I take pride in being a programmer, but that is not a well defined statement and perhaps I mean something else by it than what you mean.
There is the machine and it is really really complicated. It can do a lot of things, but sometimes what it can do is not exactly what is needed. Then the users either put in a lot of elbow-grease to get what they want done, or worse they declare that it is impossible to achieve it and what is needed doesn’t get done. Then a programmer goes by and notices this. They see that something is done inefficiently, with a lot of pain to the users and the business, and the programmer says: “You know it doesn’t have to be this way. We can make the machine do the right thing for us. After all we are the masters of the machine, it should serve us, not the other way around.” And the users very often can’t believe this. They don’t think this way. They very often bug out their eyes and state that it cannot be done, because there is no time, or budget, or it is just simply impossible. And then the programmer sits down works a bit (10 minutes, or a week, or a month, depending on the complexity and the value of the problem) and shows them that it was not impossible. The machine didn’t serve us before and now it does. This is what it means to me to be a programer. You go around, find problems you can solve for people and you solve them.
Maybe you are a terrible hack who copy-pastes together scripts from stackoverflow until they kinda work, maybe you are a real engineer who can build elegant and well tested reliable solutions to hard problems. If you can make the computer work for you and master it you are a programmer in my book and I think you should feel proud of it.