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Comment by Dav3xor | Hacker News Reader

I'm an embedded programmer, and I had to write an XML parser for work. I've also written operating system code, 3d graphics, whatever. And ECMAScript too. Having such a narrow view limits were you can go, and what you can do. I specialize in a few things, but there's no programming task I'm truly afraid of, with at least being given a little time to read some documentation. "Specialization is for Insects."

I know so many people who've just done basic CRUD business programming. Smart people, really smart people, but they limit themselves; don't try to do anything deep and interesting, and it's sad.

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I know so many people who've just done basic CRUD business programming. Smart people, really smart people, but they limit themselves; don't try to do anything deep and interesting, and it's sad.

I don't know much about CRUD business programming, but I do know in every field there are many levels of difficulties. Maybe these smart people are trying to solve those problems? If a system has simple atomic parts, it does not mean that every problem will be easy.

Edit: "Specialization is for Insects.", wow if you believe that, why do you live in an society. If you know every general thing, then you must be able to make your meal right? It will include farming, harvesting, cleaning of wheat, making your own bread (with equipments that you make on your own) and then slicing it and serving it. And that is just bread ;)

Re: "Specialization is for Insects"... Two extremes in one thread. :) There is a middle ground, where we have different levels of knowledge on a great multitude of things.

The other day, for example, I patched a hole in my own tire, rather than taking it to a shop. What if (a hypothetical) I, a self-proclaimed C programmer, needed a bugfix in a tool written in python? I can get my job done much quicker if I make a quick patch on my own, rather than wait for someone else to fix it for me.

Specialization is great; it is nice to have experts. Knowing many things is great; it is nice to have people who can do more than one thing effectively.

Just as a basic life survival thing, btw, you probably want to learn the basics of hunting, gathering, and farming. Some things are more important to know than others. :) Insects survive well as a species and much less well as individuals.

I do occasionally make my own bread, and I grew up on a farm. So? I'm not an expert in either, but I can dabble. Why keep yourself from learning something new?

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