Comment by gregp4 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gregp4 | Hacker News Reader

The second article from a major media outlet about this guy? Yes, he's inconsiderate, but so what? If it were a blog post from a lawyer or school teacher, would the Post or the Guardian have cared? Would we see articles about a "Law Bro?"

The media, collectively, has it in for us. They keep using borderline derogatory labels for us in their articles like "coder" and "techie," and they publish hit pieces like the linked article smearing us as if we were some evil 1%, despite almost none of us making as much as the average dentist.

They are stripping us of what little prestige and respect we once had, and we are just letting them do it. And there's no shortage of programmers willing to argue with you that it's not even happening, and that there's nothing wrong non-technical English majors with an ax to grind attempting to re-brand us "coders" and our profession "coding."

This article (and the comments) are relevant:

http://chickenwing.software/scratches/programming/on-coders-...

https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/45wzup/on_code...

Oh cry me a river. There is a theme evolving, and the media have latched onto it. Are lawyers and school teachers continually writing these self-righteous 'open letters'? Are lawyers and teachers of a growing, sufficient mass in a city that is struggling to serve a great proportion of it's population (for various, complicated reasons)? No.

Life is easier for 'us' than the mentally ill, the addicts, and those with less luck in life. When a self aggrandizing 20 something white guy working in a prosperous industry starts complaining like this, with the intent of attracting attention, it promotes a stereotype of a lack of sensitivity, and compassion for those around us.

Prestige and respect? Earn it, as a person. Compassion is part of that equation. You don't earn it by becoming a programmer or working in tech.

>Prestige and respect? Earn it

I and countless other programmers have put in thousands of hours unpaid labor to produce public goods in the form of open source software. For that alone I and my profession deserve respect (compare us to dentists, most in the US won't even take medicaid, let alone perform free dental work), and especially respect from these same media outlets that rely on the fruits of our unpaid labor.

You're missing the point. And it's a big point to miss.

I would respectfully state that you have it backwards - the real problem is that "techies" are becoming ever more powerful as a group, this power is acknowledged, but we have not evolved an understanding of how to wield that power in the broader society, as have the more established professions like lawyers.

I know of no lawyer, personally, that I think would be capable of writing a blog post as insensitive and lacking in subtlety as the one referenced by this article. They know better. I know plenty of tech people who I think are perfectly capable of doing so.

If we don't learn, and quickly, our reputation will soon be no better than that of Wall Street bankers.

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