Tane’s Mental Mindstream

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Rockstar Programmers

Today, after reading this, I asked a question of why people like Joe Spolsky and Jeff Atwood get such a following when they are actually not very good coders in general.  This was the best explination I got:

"If there was a badger loudly dying in your backyard you would probally go out and watch it."

Posted
4 Comments
Jul 08, 2010
stevebrewer said...
FogCreek, Joel on Software, and Stack Overflow are pretty successful. More relevant than a jaded architect's opinion? Probably..
Jul 08, 2010
Tane Piper said...
@stevebrewer Stack Overflow itself successful *not because* of Spolsky and Atwood, but rather because the community that has taken over - and there are a few decent coders on there who can give a coherent answer.

Other than that, those two (and many others) have not really provided anything of worth to the underlying nature of the internet, computing in general or development - but they like to posture themselves like they have.

I myself am not claiming to be a great programmer - far from it, I'm pretty average (and yes I get a few answers from StackOverflow) - but my issue is with how much noise Rockstar's make when they are really not that good.

Jul 08, 2010
stevebrewer said...
The point of SO was to build a community. And Spolsky's fame is more as a software guy than a coder. Hard to argue with his results there.
Jul 13, 2010
Gob said...
@stevebrewer It's actually pretty easy to argue with the results.

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