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So true. You have to learn that programming is politics from day one. Unfortunately, unlike the sciences where there is a framework for determining who is good and who is bad, in programming it is left up to sometimes immature people to make their case. The best way to silence them is with working software.

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This can be said for nearly every white collar job besides maybe trading or something similarly measurable.

With sciences you have citations, peer review, credentials, etc. What do you have when management absolutely loves their immature high school dropout rockstar because they fooled investors enough to bring in big money? I think that programming is a bit of a special case.

> With sciences you have citations, peer review, credentials, etc.

You should read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Shechtman#Work_on_quasicrys...

I'm not saying that the sciences are not political, its just that you have to do decades of work before you can even begin to criticize your rivals. Even then, you are trying to convince smart peers in writing. In programming, the thinking on the street is that the younger, less educated, and less experienced you are, the more awesome you are.

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