You want to become a developer? The job may not be what you’re imagining

Many people see developers as impressive geeks who can solve problems and are offered a lot of appreciation and recognition. This is true in some cases, but not all the time.

Throughout my career, I’ve said from day one that the greatest developers are the ones who started developing out of passion very early in their life. The ones who learned programming at school are generally pretty good. However, I don’t believe they will ever be as good as programmers who have the drive to program in their DNA.

With that being said, something that isn’t often well known outside of programming circles is that programmers, in general, are often seen as enemies. Why? They often bring bad news, such as announcing new delays, problems, modifications, etc. They get this reputation, not because of anything that’s their fault, but because their work is completely misunderstood. Managers bring unreasonable deadlines or poorly timed requests, and if the developer doesn’t successfully reach this new objective, it’s ‘their fault’.

I’ve seen very few programmers who have the personality and the capability to address potential problems down the road while managing the expectations of their managers. I don’t think it’s fair that we put this expectation on programmers, anyway. Think about it this way.

You call a plumber because you want to install a new bathroom. The room isn’t ready for them, but you call and ask for a quote anyway – something that’s impossible to define at this stage. But you insist, you push hard, and finally, they tell you, “Well, about three days and $3,000.” That’s it! You got what you wanted! Now, you base all of your expectations on their vague estimate. That’s not smart.

Three days later, the plumbers announce that because there was a column they couldn’t move and didn’t know about it, they need to do extra work and it will take two more days and cost $1,500 more. You lose it.

Well, this is the life of a developer, unless they work in an environment that understands them, like ours.