
The "free electron" programmer - j_baker
http://jasonsupdates.posterous.com/the-free-electron-programmer
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KevBurnsJr
ya, well, I can relate, you know, cause I'm a Pisces, and I'm also a unicorn,
so that basically makes me Superman. I suggest you pay me a lot of money and
don't tell me what to do. If you treat me like a princess maybe I'll let you
piggyback on my fabulous talent all the way to the bank cause I'm such a nice
guy.

~~~
j_baker
I detect sarcasm here, but that's ok. The thing is that suggesting things
isn't very productive. If you want employers to pay you a lot of money and not
tell you what to do, you should demonstrate that you're worth a lot of money
and work best without being told what to do.

~~~
derefr
If you currently work equally well when you are or are not being told what to
do (let's just call it micromanaging, because no one really minds _high-level_
being-told-what-to-do), and you don't want to be micromanaged, should you
negatively bias your micromanaged output so your managers will stop doing it
as much?

~~~
j_baker
If you enjoy being passive-agressive, then I suppose the answer is yes.

My point was more along the lines of saying "don't think that just because a
blog post says you're a free electron, that you're going to automatically get
job offers lining up for you." You should get jobs because you are a good
match for them.

If you currently feel micromanaged, you're better off hitting the problem
head-on. Either find out why you're getting micromanaged and correct it, or
find a new job.

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InclinedPlane
I wouldn't describe myself as a "free electron" programmer, that seems a bit
out of my league. But I am an inventor (INTJ), and I can tell you that the
industry does not seem particularly aware that these personality types exist.

The overwhelming sentiment across the industry seems to be that there is one
and only one ideal software developer archetype, who should fit into the
overarching software development machinery like a well-designed cog. However,
my personality traits make me wholly unsuited to being a cog, I just can't do
it. It would probably be vastly more convenient for me if I could be a cog,
but I can't sustain that mode for long. I invent things, I make new things, I
make broken things better, I tackle novel problems, I don't sit on an assembly
line, I don't do the same thing day in and day out, I don't do well with
routine. I am creative, curious, adventurous, pragmatic, strong-willed, and
occasionally try crazy things. And I have a legitimate passion for technology.
I am not risk-averse, dogmatic, susceptible to intimidation, nor even remotely
interested in office politics. Unfortunately, many of these traits seem to be
the opposite of what's necessary to get along, and get ahead, at any modern,
large software company.

I've run across a few other programmers with similar personality traits
(inventors, architects, masterminds) and for the most part they run against
the grain of the establishment and do not seem to be treated particularly well
by the industry (a common theme seems to be jumping ship earlier than usual).

~~~
j_baker
In fairness, jumping ship early isn't necessarily related to how programmers
are treated in the case of "free electrons". These personality types tend to
get bored with projects quickly and enjoy new challenges.

Note that I use the term "free electron" more in the sense of being a
particular set of personality types and less in the sense of necessarily being
a great programmer. Either way, I feel that "free electrons" are very valuable
no matter what their level of programming skill.

That said, you're correct that these people tend to go against the grain. And
you can't really blame people for not knowing how to deal with them: they're
incredibly rare. It's a shame though. These kinds of programmers are valuable
in so many ways and bring something else to the table that can't be found
anywhere else (whether or not they feel they qualify as "free electrons").

And FYI, inventors are ENTJ. INTJ is the mastermind. :-)

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scotty79
So much like me, especially my deficiencies as free-electron are painfully
obvious to me. What's even worse, I'm a loner so there's no one to compensate
for my deficiencies.

~~~
j_baker
I suppose I focused too much on potential weaknesses of free electrons. I
should probably make another blog post about the strengths. After all, your
strengths should be more than enough to balance out your weaknesses!

~~~
scotty79
I don't think that's the case. You praise us for having unmatched aptitude for
understanding complex systems. While it's probably true, reading such open
praise made me uneasy.

Strengths do not balance weaknesses because understanding thing fast and
thoroughly does not help me to finish what I am building before loosing
interest.

~~~
j_baker
Programming by yourself is really hard, no matter what your personality type.

Other people may have more of a "get it done" personality, but they aren't as
good at coming up with an "it" to get done. If you put the two together, you
have a perfect match!

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jswinghammer
I hadn't read the article cited before and it hit home for me in some ways.
I've been the guy to deal with tons of crap code that I hadn't ever seen
before and fix that critical bug that was making it impossible to ship.

I'm also a pain sometimes if I don't get my way. Right now I care about page
load times and features for our current customers and my management cares
about these big initiatives. I see their point but that's not what I want to
be doing so I have a hard time caring. It's not a good thing really but the
things that I've done on my own have turned into major improvements to our
technology and served our existing customers very well.

Not sure where I'm going with this but it sort of put some more perspective on
some decisions I've felt as though I need to make about where to take my
career. I've been coming to the conclusion that a startup is the only way I'm
probably going to be happy at work for the short, medium, and long term.

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phugoid
I just don't have the stomach for anyone calling themself a free electron.
Self-praise is no praise.

I wouldn't dare call myself a great husband, a great father, a great thinker,
or a great engineer. I have my moments.

