Mediocrity

By
Garland MacNeill
– March 12, 2010Posted in: Development

I came across this blog on Tech Republic this morning

Confessions of a mediocre programmer

In the blog the author confesses that as a developer, he’s actually not that great of a programmer. Why did this intrigue me? Well honestly, it gives me hope. I think one of my shortcomings is I’m not that great of a programmer. I have to work at it. I have to sit and think about what it is I’m going to to do before I start actually coding anything. The more I understand the problem, the easier the code comes. Although at times I struggle making sure I have all of the details, then I’m sure I’m not alone.

What gives me hope in this article, are the comments. I see lots of people agreeing with the author and confessing they aren’t the best coders either. In fact, in the article the author mentions some aspects of the development job such as

“A developer has to wear many hats

Programmer is but one of the many roles of a developer; you often have to wear the following hats as well:

  • Buyer (with budget)
  • Scavenger (no budget)
  • Analyst
  • Designer
  • Planner
  • Programmer
  • Coordinator
  • Tester
  • Documenter
  • Support technician

It is not too surprising then when a developer is not considered an expert in one or more of these roles. For me that job function was programming. ”

Well aside from the programming and designer portions of the job description, that pretty much describes every IT job I’ve ever had. So there’s hope for me yet. I recommend reading the article.

 

Tags: ,
Garland MacNeill

About Garland MacNeill

Garland is a full time Systems Analyst for a school district in Tulsa, OK. Currently Garland is working on the completion of his masters degree from Capella University in Enterprise Software Architecture. In addition to working full time and going to school, Garland is married to his High School sweetheart Aj. Some of Garland's outside interests include motorcycles, spending time with nature, and enjoying the family cabin in Northern WI. In addition, Garland is also a fan of the Green Bay Packers and an avid fan of the Colorado Avalanche. He also enjoys watching MotoGP racing.