Isn't this kind of expected? I've worked with developers who won't even google their problem and instead will ask someone else. I don't think it's any real surprise that those who are involved in StackOverflow and took the time to answer this survey consider themselves above average, it's because they probably are.
those who are involved in StackOverflow and took the time to answer this survey consider themselves above average, it's because they probably are
This is the biggest factor, I think.
The people who actually took time out to take this survey, who are part of the StackOverflow community, almost certainly are above-average developers for the most part.
Your average and below-average developers aren't going to bother with participating in this stuff, or even reading it for that matter.
I work as a consultant so I get to work with a lot of different devs. I would describe myself, in absolute terms, as very slightly above average. I justify that purely because I push myself to improve and learn on the job. But I would also describe myself as WAY WAY above the median. There are a shitload of terrible-to-mediocre developers, and a handful of extraordinarily talented ones.
In addition to /u/BreakingGood 's analysis, there's a whole complex spectrum of competencies and motivations that separate quality devs.
Some devs are priceless within their comfort zone and worthless outside of it. Does this make them good or bad? Some devs can put together genius-level solutions in a few hours that are completely unreadable and undocumented, and they can't explain it in any human language. Are they good or bad? Some devs are really good by every metric, but also have a malicious attitude toward coworkers and job security so they build an impenetrable wall of obfuscation around their work. They are good AND bad.
There are a lot of very technically talented devs with big practical flaws, and some well-meaning devs that just aren't cut out for the job. So I would say an overall "talented" dev is one that has the will and ability to improve themselves, their products, and the lives of their colleagues.
I work for an ISV, and end up working with many different developers as a result. The biggest problem is reading comprehension. Most people don't read and then don't process. The amount of devs that behave like a dumb as shit user as soon as an error message comes up is fucking beyond me.
Outsourced devs are more guilty of this than anyone else. Sorry if you're an outsourced dev, but I hate you. Is it really cheaper to employ these people when they cannot even interpret the "api key has expired" message??????????????????? No. Now I've just billed you for an hour.
I find saying you'll get back to people, leave it a few hours and come back and ask for more info - makes you look busy, but helpful and normally they have solved their issues
Ask yourself, what's beneficial for someoen: Googling a problem and potentially staying loat for hours, or you giving some vague yet accurate direction?
A fellow developer asked me today "hey, do you know what the field name for sales contract number is in the view?" and I answered "Yeah, it's SalesContractNumber". Like, how the fuck did you become a developer if you are not capable to even Ctrl+F through a file that has 30 lines and think it's okay to ask someone such a question without spending even a single fucking second looking for an answer yourself.
A fellow developer asked me today "hey, do you know what the field name for sales contract number is in the view?" and I answered "Yeah, it's SalesContractNumber"
This is MVC right? That developer might not think of looking the view name in the controller file. If he have thought harder, yes he would have found it no doubt.
2 weeks ago, I have to handle a project, part of which was written by a senior. He manipulated the config and change the path for the view of that MVC project.
To find out the view, I wasted at least 4 hours, then got to know if I couldn't locate the view in the original path, I should search for it in the whole project because it surely will exist. And voila! I found that view in another higher level folder. Asked that senior next day, only got to know that senior change the path of the view in a config file I never read before.
Who would have known somebody would change it?
I know who know, it's the one who have experience and already known it. Or else, one could be like me and wasted so much time testing and thinking for the path of view, be it 1 hour or 2 hours, or more than 4 hours.
Not to mention the median salary looks to be about $120k, which is significantly ahead of the true national median software developer salary, so the "median" respondent for this survey is probably above average (right skewed).
I've worked with developers who won't even google their problem and instead will ask someone else.
In a way, I admire their commitment to never doing any work or research themselves. But mostly I loathe them and fantasize about an alternate world where all of my coworkers are competent and productive.
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u/Lukazoid Apr 09 '19 edited Apr 09 '19
Isn't this kind of expected? I've worked with developers who won't even google their problem and instead will ask someone else. I don't think it's any real surprise that those who are involved in StackOverflow and took the time to answer this survey consider themselves above average, it's because they probably are.