Programmers Should Stop Celebrating Incompetence

DHH is well known for kicking up a storm. I don’t always agree with him. In this case, I do. We can strive for competence and embrace newcomers to programming. Software challenge us to learn new things all the time, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know anything.

Against my better judgement to never look at the comment section, I glanced at some of the reaction on Twitter. A lot of the objections seem to be saying “Stop telling people they can’t look up things on the internet”. Example:

You must have everything you need to know to do your job memorized You know, like doctors and lawyers and mechanical engineers Riiiight

DHH didn’t say any of that. He said that you should be working to improve your knowledge in the areas that you choose, and not pretend like no one knows anything.

Be Curious, Not Judgmental

It is tempting to trash others work and belittle it. It can make us feel bigger, smarter, better. It is not conducive to learning and deep insight. If instead we adopt a curios mindset, the results can be quite different. The post illustrates the point well.

How to rest well

This post by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang reinforces my belief that rest is a competitive advantage. Being well-rested improves cognition. Downtime, and time for hobbies is important and should be prioritized. “All work” is a terrible mindset.