http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=490830

I dislike the kind of programmer who always wants to show off his/her everyone-else-is-an-idiot type of smart, but never takes any responsibility even for the smallest bugs he/she has introduced. One of my friends in the same company shared with me his observation: "Those people usually end up on projects that are small enough for one person".

I don't want to be the type of programmer who is indifferent to bugs and issues of the applications that they support. They write down on paper the procedures how to handle the troubles, so that they can follow the procedures the next time when they run into the same troubles, but usually they don't apply long term fixes. Why? many reasons: don't want to take risk; want to take it easy; or they are not empowered to do so (in which case, I don't blame them).

How about you?

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Re: The kind of programmer I dislike and the kind of programmer I do not want to be myself
by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Sep 10, 2005 at 05:42 UTC

    You can recover the guy in 20-50% of the cases by teaming him with somebody better, who knows what's going on.

    Don't forget the possibility that he's right. He might have a nose for trouble your whole team missed. Good people are hardly ever popular, and management of the pointy-haired kind always hates them.

    After Compline,
    Zaxo

Re: The kind of programmer I dislike and the kind of programmer I do not want to be myself
by zentara (Archbishop) on Sep 10, 2005 at 10:10 UTC
    Promote them to management, they'll fit right in.

    I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh

      That's the horrible situation I was in with one company. The guy was actually brilliant, but he never admitted being wrong and was quick to criticize everyone else publically. Given that many programmers are not the most socially adept people, those who have (computer) chips on their shoulders probably shouldn't be elevated to positions requiring greater social skills :)

      Cheers,
      Ovid

      New address of my CGI Course.

        ++ , though it seems to me all of us live already in technocracy.


Re: The kind of programmer I dislike and the kind of programmer I do not want to be myself
by sh1tn (Priest) on Sep 10, 2005 at 13:10 UTC
    "The kind of programmer I dislike and the kind of programmer I do not want to be myself"...
    What's more important for me is what I like and what kind of programmer I want to be. It is perfectly valid definition ($programmer|$project_manager) = 'idiot' unless he has basic programming||development||management skills. I worked in more than 5 firms through the past 3 years and most of the programmers didn't have idea of common language techniques not to mention the lack of thorough programming knowledge. How do you call such people?


      I worked in more than 5 firms through the past 3 years and most of the programmers didn't have idea of common language techniques not to mention the lack of thorough programming knowledge.
      Unless the reason you've gone through so many firms in such a short time is that they've all gone under, they must be doing something right. Any idea what it could be?
        You missed the possibility that he was a contractor brought in for short term contracts at many places.

        Though yes, I'm inclined to agree with your gut response.

        Sure, they do a lot of things right. Nevertheless the limit between working (till when?) and well done (not very well tested but at least tested) is not invisible. It's a matter of standard of living I guess. You mean you can expect cheap worker and high quality? I doubt.


Re: The kind of programmer I dislike and the kind of programmer I do not want to be myself
by bluto (Curate) on Sep 12, 2005 at 14:42 UTC
    I dislike the kind of programmer who always wants to show off his/her everyone-else-is-an-idiot type of smart, but never takes any responsibility even for the smallest bugs he/she has introduced.

    Lack of taking responsibility is a big temptation for everyone, especially if your work environment doesn't allow for mistakes. I've seen this kind of behavior permeate a large programming team, even people I respect. If you have good management (i.e. they are seeking "lessons learned" rather than scalps on one hand, but hold people to some accountability on the other), I think you can deal with the occasional egotistical/immature programmer. Of course if the management is that programmer, then you have a problem...