

Is expecting expertise unreasonable? - rohitarondekar
http://blog.sidu.in/2010/12/is-expecting-expertise-unreasonable.html

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Locke1689
I'd just like to note that sometimes people present physicians as an example
of people who don't need to work on their field outside of work. These people
are horribly informed.

My extended family gatherings are like a medical convention. Both my parents
are physicians. Unlike computer science there isn't a question of "do I need
to work on medicine to continue to be on the top of my game?" The answer is
yes. Period.

As far back as I can remember my parents have always had heated medical
discussions on new cases over dinner while my sister and I shared blank
stares. When I was 6 or so I remember gathering all the copies of the New
England Journal of Medicine, Modern Pathology, and the Journal of Clinical
Pathology and using them to make a fort in the apartment. The high ceiling fit
me and my sister quite comfortably. My mom spends her time thinking about how
things could be done better and more efficiently in her practice and my dad is
constantly innovating and forming companies.

So do programmers have to like programming? Do they have to keep up with it
outside of their job requirements?

Yes. Period.

~~~
Prisen
A Cobol programmer using twenty year old knowledge can still make good money
and be useful. A physician using twenty year old medicine knowledge - not so
much.

~~~
rue
I do not think that is accurate. A guy using fifty-year-old _technology_ can
still be useful (COBOL, for example). _Knowledge_ (of the problem domain)
should definitely be of more recent vintage.

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scott_s
I'm about to finish my PhD in CS, so my perspective is perhaps different than
a professional programmer, but I _define_ free-time as time not spent on CS.
There are no predetermined "work hours" or "work days"; every hour is
potentially a work hour, and every day is a work day. With that perspective,
the hours of the day I choose not to work on any aspect of CS is my free-time.

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evilduck
I'm of the opinion that most workplaces do not provide adequate opportunities
to become an expert in anything beyond the very narrow niche job you're paid
to do. Often it's knowledge of of their business domain that trumps
programming skills. A few are lucky to have research jobs that allow for
spreading your wings, but you're typically already an expert in something
before you can land a job like that.

I'm also a corporate drone right now, and my experience is that most of my
"corporate programmer" peers check their programming skills at the door when
they go home. Adequacy and personal development mean nothing to them so long
as they remain gainfully employed. These men and women also tend to be the
most boring people to converse with, not because they lack passion for
programming, but because they have no apparent passions at all. Any personal
improvements are due to system constraints that force them to learn something
new to prevent failing a task. The few who strive to improve on their own,
learn another language besides Java, have side projects or businesses, or run
a blog or whatever...they're the ones who _also_ do interesting non-
programming stuff. I attribute it to having a personal drive or being a self-
motivated person or having some mental itch that needs scratching. Something
that just prevents a person from being happy by just sitting around watching
TV.

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billswift
>I also find the 'if you study, you have no life' argument something of a cop
out.

I think it's more of a pre-emptive excuse, as in : "I don't have time to study
outside the office, since I have a life."

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mynegation
I agree with the article, however I would like to note two things: 1\. In
software engineering companies (especially smaller ones) tend not to provide
any training to employees assuming it is their own problem. 2\. Expecting
expertise more often than not implies "specialized expertise" and there is
such thing as "too specialized". It is more important to look at the problem-
solving skills and work ethic than mere list of skills and technologies.

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rubidium
_I don't understand the constant assumption that if you choose to study in
your spare time, you have no life._

Maybe I run into the wrong people, but I've not run into this assumption much
(outside of college where kids don't know much about life anyways).If someone
chooses to study, be engaged in their domain outside of work, have
'intellectual' hobbies, that's usually a plus in my book.

I'm curious where people have run into this?

~~~
tomjen3
It properly has to do with the assumption that you can't finish you allotted
work in the time everybody else has, like the kid who struggled to finish the
test with just a few minutes left.

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tomjen3
Yes, it often is. Most time mere adequacy will do just fine, which is a good
thing because that's frequently all you will get.

