Question: at what point do folks consider themselves programmers? Or scientists?
I've written programs, but don't feel I've earned the title "programmer". I've used the scientific method to identify and resolve issues, but "scientist"? Not I. At what point do folks feel comfortable identifying themselves that way? Just wondering if anyone else is pondering what I'm pondering.
@vunderkind That's pretty much where I'm at with it. It's like whatever the opposite of imposter syndrome is. I'm just glad it ain't just me. 👍
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Programmer: When you completed a project used by someone else consistently
Scientist: Once you are published in a peer reviewed journal.
@freemo I am oddly impressed you had objective benchmarks on the ready. Well played.
@dumdumjobes Is it the same line that would be used to distinguish
between a number certain of grains of sand and a pile of sand? When do we
decide to use one or the other.
I started using the word developer not so long ago, instead of sysadmin, even
though I've been doing programming for a very long time now, but never really
professionally. Because of course we (I?) tend to define ourselves by what we
do "at work", the rest doesn't count. I'm being sarcastic, it does count, but
it's such a hard habit to lose.
You define yourself however you want. And if you want to be a programmer even
though you've never developed anything, then it's fine, you'll get there
(somewhere) eventually.
@pep You're right in that it truly is semantics after a certain point. It always just strikes me as funny that it's easier for us to classify others than it is for us to turn that lens back on ourselves. I only just got to thinking about it cause I've had multiple folks approach me at work with "You're a programmer, right? Can you take a look at this for me..." So it goes.
@dumdumjobes I've been programming since I got my Commodore 64 in 1983, and I've programmed as a **part** of my job for more than 20 years (many tens of thousands of lines of code in a dozen or so languages), and I still wouldn't call myself a programmer. I'm an engineer that writes programs. I enjoy programming. I might even say I'm a hobbyist programmer. But that isn't my primary job function, so I've never self-identified in that way. I know I would get annoyed if a hobbyist physics enthusiast starting calling themselves an engineer, so I return the favor and stay in my lane.
@blake Very similar for me. Started as a kid in the 80s, sys admin/engineer by trade for 20+ years, written lots of code (in maybe half as many languages, kudos on that), etc. It wasn't until I recognized that I was now the gray beard that others were going to for answers that I felt comfortable even using engineer as a self descriptor. To my mind, I'm just a computer guy. The rest feels like window dressing.
@dumdumjobes At the end of the day, I think it's fair game to call yourself whatever you're being paid to do. If you're doing the job of a programmer or engineer or scientist, you're earning the title.
@dumdumjobes I considered myself a programmer (actually software engineer) when I found my self writing code in my head as a solution to problems. Sort of like when you can "speak another language" when you think in that language. BTY I think in C. If you want to explain an algorithm to me just show me the C code and I get it.
@dumdumjobes For me, getting a degree in CS, then having programming be my full-time job made "programmer" a reasonable moniker.
I do have an issue with calling myself a singer. I've been an amateur choral singer for 20 years. I've sung with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic Chorus and with Maui Choral Arts. But "singer" is not comfortable.
@dumdumjobes science is a methodology that can be applied by anyone, so to some degree we’re all scientists. Programming is a bit less universal and might be a title bestowed only on those who do so professionally?
@horseface I've gotten a lot of good and sometimes conflicting viewpoints on this query over the years. I've also chosen "artist" and "musician" at different points and still wound up in the same place. Mostly this is just something I get to thinking about every now and again when the topic of gatekeeping pops up. :-)
@dumdumjobes it probably has more to do with internal affiliations than any real threshold one must cross before self-identifying as such.
if you’ve been writing programs but don’t feel like it’s a core aspect of your identity, i may understand the reluctance to associate as a programmer, in much the same way that I’ve written works of fiction (and won prizes for some) yet do not consider myself a “writer”.