Hackers vs. Software Engineers

dandreamsofcoding.com

18 points·bcjordan··5 comments

I'm not sure I've ever seen an article that's so full of arbitrary assumptions and over-generalizations. Just a sampling:

- Hackers have difficulty communicating or staying on task.

- Hackers don't respect non-coders.

- Software engineers go home to their kids, but hackers don't. (Does someone come to your office and ask you to surrender your Hacker Guild Membership Card when your first kid is born?)

- Software engineers don't have many heroes.

In contrast, here's the definition of "hacker" from the Jargon File:

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html

Note that there's nothing in there that would preclude a hacker from also being a software engineer with a high degree of professionalism.

Articles that assign labels to groups of people and proceed to give arbitrary definitions to judge whether one falls under a certain label or another should only be interpreted as "What the author of the article sees in himself, and what label he'd like to be assigned to him"- nothing more.

Agree. There's so much generalization that I can't even identify with any of the two groups. I like side projects a lot but I also care about documentation. I like being alone but I'm not an introvert and I don't hate or disrespect people for what they do or can't do or what they are (that's not being a hacker, that's being a dick). And I don't like junk food and staying up long hours because it's bad for my health (which the article obviously has complete disregard for) and it makes working out difficult.

>Software engineers are smart, and get things done. Hackers are done, and get things smart.

What tripe.

Sounds like the author was really keen on using one of these comparisons but couldn't find a good one.

"Software engineer" is a role. Hacking is a posture of mind. You can be one or the other or both or neither.

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