
What Happens to Lazy Programmers? - bhalp1
http://dev.to/ben/what-happens-to-lazy-programmers
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lj3
Lazy in an overloaded term in tech circles. It can mean any of the following
three things:

1) having a poor work ethic, like working only 2 hours a day and browsing
reddit the rest of the time. This lazy programmer gets fired or laid off as
soon as humanly possible. Don't be this kind of lazy.

2) not having a close enough attention to detail, like letting the computer
manage your memory for you rather than doing it by hand[0]. This lazy
programmer is fairly common and is generally tolerated, but will often be at
the top of the chopping block come layoff time. This is the kind of programmer
you hire when you need bodies and you're not picky.

3) not thinking through a solution before trying to solve a problem, producing
working code very, very quickly but leaving a ticking time bomb of spaghetti
in your wake. This lazy programmer is usually referred to by management as a
"rock star" and quickly gets promoted to "architect".

I would argue that being lazy is not a virtue in any walk of life. But, If you
have to be lazy, be lazy as productively as possible.

[0]: this one's a matter of perspective. Web devs wouldn't consider this being
lazy. AAA game devs most certainly do.

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mentioned_edu
I sometimes fear that I am too lazy to make it long term as a programmer but
it is hard to pin down what is a virtue and what is a vice.

