Bruce Tate is becoming Mr. Analogy :)
His latest effort talks about Spring and the English Archer. Here he walks us through history, and how great the Brits were with their weapon of choice. Of course in today’s day and age us Brits are only good for losing in most sports that we invented, and following the US like a lap dog (unless you could Hugh Grant’s speach in Love Actually).
Christian Parker throws his hat in the ring with: Software developers are like jazz musicians.
Whenever I hear a Jazz musician interviewed they describe their career in terms of other people they have ‘worked’ with. E.g. Winton Marcellus might say : “early in my career I had the privilege of working with Louis Armstrong, then later I played with Duke Ellington, …”. I’ve never interviewed a plumber, but I wonder if they say similar things, “Yea, I studied under Sal up in DesMoines…”. I honestly don’t know.
Not many software developers seem to think about their craft this way. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because we’re just not the social type. Or maybe it’s because software development tends toward an isolated activity; plugging away on your PC in a dark room somewhere.
I’m hoping later in my career I can rattle off a list of names of people I’ve worked with that I respect who taught me things and helped me along in my career. Who knows.
I definitely owe what I have done in my career so far to the people around me. I have learnt so much from the many artisans that I get to work with, and of course those who I interact with through the ether.
This fits nicely with the Programmers are like gardeners analogy. I hope to work in the garden, tend to my code, and learn from the jazz musicians around me.
