Ask HN: Are all developers sith by nature? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are all developers sith by nature?

5 pointsdmitripopov13 comments

May the 4th be with you, my friends! We, developers, are creative individuals. My 20+ years experince says that one can not be a developer without being at least a little creative. But being creative is all about passion. And passion is the center of sith philosophy. So, we all are sith by nature? Even if we do not strive for power, we employ the dark side all the way.

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Lots of developers aren't "passionate", at least about software development. (https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/30/not-a-passionate-pro...)

And there's a good argument to be made that you shouldn't be passionate about software development: http://www.virtuouscode.com/2014/02/10/the-passion-gospel/

Creativity is not "all about passion". It's a skill you can apply with or without passion.

Creativity without passion is just making. You put pieces together, add some glue, and it just works. Being creative means to be able to find untrivial solutions.

What does finding untrivial solutions have to do with passion?

Take two programmeers, a passionate one and non-passionate about his job and give them the same complex task that can not be solved without invention. I did this experiment a dozen of times over my subordinates and non-passionate ones always fail. 100%. So I do not hire people that just do their job any more.

There's a difference between caring about your job and being passionate. I recommend reading Avdi Grimm's http://www.virtuouscode.com/2014/02/10/the-passion-gospel/, it's really good.

All of them did care about their job equally. To care - is to do your best, to be passionate is to do more than you can.

You may be just making, but if you're making a good solution, does it in any way devalue it if you're not passionate about it?

In case when good is enough - it's OK. But when you need something exceptional - you will regret 10 times if you hire someone not passionate.

That's an "if" that applies to so few companies it's almost not worth considering. Most software written today isn't breaking new ground, and I think the sooner we communicate that to the next generation (and the companies trying to hire)the sooner we can fix a lot of the problems in pipeline.

Exactly this. Unfortunately most developers I've met, look at their jobs as little more than churning out code to meet a spec that was handed down to them.

Now if you're an early stage startup, you're putting together a team, then yes, of course you absolutely need someone who lives and breathes dev and loves every minute of it - but it's not as much about the quality of the code as it is about how that person will positively impact the overall company culture.

But majority of dev jobs ... little more than 9-5 code churning.

I guess we should take a time and make a clearer terminology. The developer is the one who develops things. The coder/programmer is the one who writes code. There was a time when both terms were synonyms, but nowdays it is not true.

I think your assertion is false. Isn't necessity the "mother of invention"? Creativity is a part of human nature, everyone has it, to a degree, and it's something we use not only out of passion, but to resolve pain, to make our lives easier, to help people, and even to do evil things like commit crimes etc.

Passion to me is when you come back to some activity weither you plan to or not, e.g. you think about a programming problem out of the blue while in the shower or walking the dog. The things you are passionate about are always there in the back of your mind, presenting themselves when they wish. So passion is an attitude or state of mind regarding an activity.

Creativity on the other hand is when you come up in an idea or a solution to a problem. When you let out the stream of thoughts regarding a given topic, unfiltered by rational thinking. So creativity is the process of getting rid of your prejudices and looking a topic from different angles.

I guess they are both very different kind of concepts.

Creativity can be a passion, see artists, musicians. But also the most un-creative activity, e.g. sorting stamps, can be a passion.

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