<story><title>The Mediocre Programmer</title><url>http://themediocreprogrammer.com/what-is-the-mediocre-programmer.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ShroudedNight</author><text>I half read, half skimmed the contents, and what I found was significantly divergent from what I was hoping for.&lt;p&gt;I was hoping to find some combination of a breakdown of potential paper cuts that hold programmers back, and an insightful breakdown of seemingly insurmountable problems that keep programmers in their provincial comfort zones, providing a series of bite-sized victories to lead one to greatness.&lt;p&gt;Instead I found number of already well-tread tropes of self-acceptance, limiting the amount one compares one&amp;#x27;s self to others, finding friends, and taking breaks. Furthermore, it does this without presenting any kind of new model to achieve this within the programmers existing emotional, executive and motivational budget.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if I&amp;#x27;m staggeringly abnormal but I&amp;#x27;m already acutely aware of those requirements. Absent some seemingly miraculous improvement in my executive function, in order to effect change (at least in me), the content needs to provide either compelling anecdotes as to why I should try harder, or a new model that provides a path where the extra smashing of face is not required.&lt;p&gt;I fully acknowledge I have no claim of liability for the content not meeting my hopes, given the generous lack of cost, but I must say I&amp;#x27;m disappointed.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Mediocre Programmer</title><url>http://themediocreprogrammer.com/what-is-the-mediocre-programmer.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>yarg</author><text>&amp;gt; before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers&lt;p&gt;Sure it&amp;#x27;s true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity.&lt;p&gt;There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given the same opportunities will be capable of achieving, if not the same, then comparable results on a given task (or set of tasks of a given type).&lt;p&gt;That simply is not true - &amp;quot;fake it &amp;#x27;till you make it&amp;quot; is not universal.</text></comment>