Joel On Software : “Hitting The High Notes”

July 25th, 2005 by Mark Rittman

Joel On
Software : "Does it even make sense to talk about having the "best
programmers?" Is there so much variation between programmers that this even
matters? Maybe it’s obvious to us, but to many, the assertion still needs to be
proven."

Unfortunately the work I do is actually mostly "doing IT for some bank"
as Joel refers to it, but it’s still my opinion that if you’ve got a talented, motivated developer on the team, the work they can produce is often
five, ten times the output and quality of the average developer who’s just walked in the
door. The difference between someone who "gets it", is productive, has been around the block a
few times and intuitively seems to know how to solve a problem, and someone
who’s just been brought in because they’re cheap and available is pretty significant, and once
you’ve got someone good, it never fails to amaze me how they end up leaving shortly
afterwards because of short sighted policies thought up by
management. So there you go.

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Comments

  1. Rob Vollman Says:

    July 26th, 2005 at 1:55 am

    I couldn’t agree more!

  2. Patrice Borne Says:

    July 28th, 2005 at 1:57 am

    I agree 100%. I am currently finishing up the building of a replenishment system for a top 100 retailer using Oracle and ASP.NET.
    I have a very efficient and productive woman on my team who really gets it and is able to produce high quality work.
    It definitely makes a difference with the average Joe Programmer who just does “what he’s been told”.
    A major difference I have encountered is also in the attitude. What I really want to find in a good programmer is the ability to dig into the problem to find a way to “make it work” as efficiently as possible without asking me for every detail of how it should be implemented.
    Patrice