Subj : Re: Are programmers like this in the real world?
To   : comp.programming
From : Chris Sonnack
Date : Wed Jul 27 2005 02:12 pm

Charles Richmond writes:

> Because computers are such common objects these days, I believe that
> the worth of the work of programmers has been devalued.

It's got to be more than that.  Human bodies are even more common than
computers, but we don't devalue the work of doctors.

I suspect it's largely due to the infancy of this industry combined
with the fact that everyone knows some nine-year-old who "programs".

I believe that, as the industry matures, we'll recognize two things.

1. Programming will always be hard, because programming *IS* hard.

2. Good programmers are the intellectual equals of doctors and lawyers
   on many counts:
      * amount of study required to become skilled,
      * amount of continued study to remain skilled,
      * need to manage lots of information about a problem,
      * largeness of the field resulting in specialties,
      * required skills of research and self-learning,
      * need to break new ground in solving a problem,
      * interconnectedness of problem/solution domains,
      * and so on.


> I object to the notion that Microsoft "builds for quality", unless you
> are referring to *poor* quality. I have been around for all the decades
> that Microsoft built its empire, and I am aware of how the fortune was 
> made.

Nevertheless, many of their products have no real equal.

-- 
|_ CJSonnack <Chris@Sonnack.com> _____________| How's my programming? |
|_ http://www.Sonnack.com/ ___________________| Call: 1-800-DEV-NULL  |
|_____________________________________________|_______________________|

.