Too Much Specialization Is Making Programming a Poorer Experience

I feel for the author and I do miss the type of programming and programmers that he is reminiscing about. But I just have to wonder how we would feel if our new home was put together by a bunch of craftsmen (framers, electricians, plumbers) without an architect and other managers working above them, and how the end product would be int terms of consistency, reliability and quality.

The new software development model is following the same model that any group development work has taken. While the handyman in construction is still useful, you won't be seeing any job ads for handyman on a construction site. But you do see handyman trucks driving around as successful consultants fixing the issues that come up with the products derived from this group development process, or at least I do, but they are few and far between.

Building software is different than building a house, so say us people that build software, but to the people above the actual coding and systems, to them it is just a project with the goal of getting finished. They don't know what a programmer does much more than most architects know how to wire a house or pour concrete. yet houses get built, and somehow software does as well.

I'm all for the small groups and lone coders producing ground breaking software, but software has turned into so much of big business that it can't be helped that the other people have followed the money and put project management into the mix. All you can do as a programmer is choose which side you would like to be on and do the best you can in the situation you are given. Specialization is for insects, so they say.