

What makes a coder to a rockstar-coder? - itsem

just a quick question. see above.
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lutusp
> What makes a coder to a rockstar-coder?

Who cares? Rockstar coders are not the avenue to quality, maintainable code.
Quality code production results from discipline, cooperation and adherence to
rigorous coding principles, the very traits that the rock star mentality finds
annoying and injurious to their narcissism.

What businesses want are disciplined professionals, not rock stars. I've been
in this business for 35 years and in my experience, the best, most reliable
coders were disciplined and creative in equal measure, took their
responsibilities very seriously, and avoided the spotlight.

Compare that to the sad stories coming out of Microsoft, where they really do
have cowboy coders adding to and maintaining the Windows code base:

Title: "Ending Microsoft’s Cowboy Spaghetti Code"

Link: [http://www.vexite.com/2005/ending-microsofts-
cowboy-](http://www.vexite.com/2005/ending-microsofts-cowboy-) spaghetti-code-
culture/

Quote: "Provided that the new processes would be followed religiously by all
Microsoft software engineers, Windows Vista should be able to exhibit a leap
of improved level of quality."

Most of you know that as a product, Vista instead failed quickly and
absolutely.

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eksith
I don't think such a creature really exists albeit there are personalities
that match the label (with quality of work that's inversely proportional). In
fact, I've seen the label implied toward people who turns out not to produce a
single line of code; which makes it quite the misnomer.

Most of the people I've met that have done exceptional work were not unusually
clever or posses genius level intelligence, but they universally had
phenomenal self-discipline, time management skills and had non-abrasive
personalities. Maybe that's really all it takes to be a good at coding or
really any other job.

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bliti
I agree. It does not have much to do with smarts. It is mostly about
discipline, and personality. People with big buzz-word titles have been less
than stellar in my experience. Worse is that they have tried to sabotage
projects because they end up looking bad.

~~~
eksith
Those kinds of people are the worst. I've seen a few "do their thing" and it's
not a pretty sight.

Not only can they kill projects, they spread misery to those around them,
almost like a cancer. It's up to management to deal with them, but of course,
if management is part of the problem, there's little else you can do.

In such a case, you can perhaps voice your concerns, but I usually tidy up my
CV because I know I won't be working in a place that tolerates (or in some
cases promotes) people like that for long.

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robotys
assuming rock-star define as some one who tout all along he is rock star
programmer, then not much make a rock-star. But if what you looking at are
someone who project creative jutsu on programming problem, deliver solution
within expected time frame if not earlier and well liked by management and
fellow programmer, then what it takes is very clear: 1) sufficient programming
knowledge and skill 2) domain knowledge 3) time management 4) good
personalities.

just, i'm sure that kind of programmer don't like to be called rock-star
programmer.

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cpt1138
The rockstar coder is a myth. It's based on a study from the punchcard era
where a cohort of a whopping 24 programmers were compared in terms of punch
card output.

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enraged_camel
Groupies and cocaine. Being able to code is optional.

