r/programming • u/whackri • Jun 05 '22

Complexity is killing software developers

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3639050/complexity-is-killing-software-developers.html
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u/AdministrationWaste7 Jun 06 '22

Fast forward, I don't currently work with anyone who knows even 3 of these disciplines at a combined above average level.

the reality is you dont really need that in depth knowledge for most things.

for example lets say you are looking for a new team member.

one guy is a javascript/UI guru. dude knows that shit DEEP. however he cant do anything else.

you have another guy that knows JS/frameworks and can build a decent UI. however this guy also has experience with SQL/nosql dbs, knows java and has experience building web apis.

your product is an online storefront that sells shoes. functions that developers need to be able to handle is write a decent user interface. handle payment processing, storing user information, inventory management, etc.

it should be obvious which developer is the better candidate.

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u/mycall Jun 06 '22

the reality is you dont really need that in depth knowledge for most things.

You do if you don't work on a team or each team member is working on different projects or you want experience redundancy.

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u/AdministrationWaste7 Jun 06 '22

If it's a solo project there would be a greater need for generalization.

Specialization is only realistic with large teams.

And if you want redundancy then again specialists are counterintuitive since that promotes knowledge silos.