I'll agree that experts in one field often moving to become experts in another, even my own direct experience seems to lend some background to this idea. I didn't move to Scala without first feeling that I'd reached the limits of what Java could teach me, and then I found myself contributing to the core library and even compiler-plugins within a surprising short space of time.
Yet much of what I've learnt via Scala I'm now able to apply back to Java code, writing better code than I would have otherwise. This has only made me a more firm believer in the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (another one to investigate alongside the Dreyfus Model) But who are the real masters in this game? Personally I think it's the folk who think outside the technical core. Clojure and F# may be impressive and broaden your vocabulary, but the real game changer, the real work of genius, was the agile manifesto! And everything that followed, from test driven development, to impromptu un-conferences to Lean. I like to think of myself as a highly talented developer, but have no delusions that I'm near the lofty heights of greatness that have been reached by Martin Fowler, or Uncle Bob. On 13 July 2010 00:19, twitter.com/nfma <[email protected]>wrote: > On 12 July 2010 23:50, Wildam Martin <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 21:05, twitter.com/nfma >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I usually tend to put things in a different perspective. >> > if you grade all the people doing Software from 0-10. Where Zero is >> someone >> > that just started fresh on its first job and Ten are The Kent Becks, The >> > Rich Hickeys, The Jim Weiriches, etc... of this world. >> > Where are you in the grade? >> >> Why limit on a 2D-scale? Life is colorful. I am sure even the best >> Java programmer has not done everything and used every 3rd party >> library out there. I am sure nobody can't be outstanding in every area >> even if you just look at Java. So you should give us at least multiple >> scales. >> >> > Hmm... > > What you're asking (I think) is a list of skills and a rate to each of them > (some people have found the Dreyfus > model<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_model_of_skill_acquisition> > useful). > And in my opinion what you are as a developer is the result of all your > skills, i.e. given your multiple scales (list of skills) that are necessary > to a developer, rate yourself in all of them. > But, in the end, you can also do the average and scale it to match the 0-10 > grade... > > I found out that most of the best guys at technology X were already the > best at technology Y that came before that. So even though nobody is good at > everything, once you're good at something, it's easier to be good at > something else (you've learned how to achieve mastery). > I also found out that even though you should focus your attention on a few > technologies at each time, you should also diversify and try to apply what > you've learned to the core technologies that you're focusing most of your > time. Sometimes you find out that you're focusing on the wrong thing > altogether and save yourself a lot of time. > > > > > >> -- >> >> Martin Wildam >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Java Posse" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<javaposse%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<javaposse%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > -- Kevin Wright mail/google talk: [email protected] wave: [email protected] skype: kev.lee.wright twitter: @thecoda -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
