Very weird title since it implies software is not about code which makes 0 sense. Yes, people skills are part of every profession but software jobs still hire based on how good your coding is primarily.
When I was a developer I thought “without me all the people in the building have nothing to sell and they can all just go home”.
Then I spent a few years in sales (long story) and flipped 180 degrees. Without salespeople (and the customers they bring in) there would be nobody paying our salaries and we all could just go home.
Close, but no. Software is about the mind, and its ability to shape (and be shaped by) its environment. Software was about "people" back when we had to pool our keystrokes together just to keep simple websites running - now we have the technical means to face the true nature of the problem, which is political: just like people have autonomy over their bodies, they deserve autonomy over their software, without having to rely on a corrupt and incompetent industry, addicted to ruining their own products for profit.
Software can be modeled as a social relation. Unless you're manufacturing your own chips from scratch, that is. Charging people for software never sat right with me.
I think people are one factor. Source does, when done well, communicate intent and implementation precisely to other people. If the language has enough semantic information it can communicate some part of the specification as well. Knowing what to write and ensuring your software does what you think it does is an important part of a project. It takes working with people to build the correct understanding of the specification and requirements.
But to a degree it is also about the code. Sometimes your requirements are: be fast enough. In which case you need to think about code: instructions and data.
Software should be about the code, but not for every person on every project for all parts of that project.
It's great to "wake up" and realize that code doesn't have the intrinsic value you might have assumed, but you can also take that knowledge and go right back to writing beautiful code where it best serves the bigger mission.
Of course CS is about code. To say otherwise is absurd. And organizational climate can be a huge problem to doing "business" in the drucker, Deming, ishikawa, munger, buffet sense.
And there too CS must work in business ... these ties are not optional carrying large magintudes.
When you're first starting out as a junior software developer, normally you do focus on just the job in front of you, i.e., the code, and the seniors have to deal with everything else. As you mature into your role, you gradually increase the scope of your work and start to take bigger and bigger views of the problem, which involves more communication and more people. That's just the natural progression of a software development career, not some big bombshell secret.
"Software is a just a tool to help accomplish something for people - many programmers never understood that. Keep your eyes on the delivered value, and don't over focus on the specifics of the tools"
That said, I don't think Carmack would ever say that software isn't about code. It's more that code should be written and evaluated based on how much net value it delivers to people, not on arbitrary technical metrics.
I agree with article thesis. I have come to conclusion myself previously.
In fact, after every 15-20 years working for corporate america i get so sick of it, I take 18-24 months off. The first time I went back to school. This time im working on a start up.
"Management"? Pleeeaaaassse .. 99% are glorified overpaid babysitters and gossipers with consequent degradation of organizational cohesion.
You better hope I don't aim AI at your job!
Now, I have run into some super smart middle managers. My better half works for a wonderful set of people. Man oh man what a difference the gems make. Thank goodness there are some guys and gals out there who bring the good stuff!
24 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 41.8 ms ] threadEnough of these code is worthless propaganda articles.
- Umbrellas are about people, not rain.
- But your umbrella will keep me dry, right?
- The materials, the shape, none of it is really important.
- I'm not sure what you mean. Give me some hard numbers. How much rainfall the fabric can take? Was it built with quality?
- At the end of the day, an umbrella is just a tool.
Then I spent a few years in sales (long story) and flipped 180 degrees. Without salespeople (and the customers they bring in) there would be nobody paying our salaries and we all could just go home.
Related but not quite the same as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem
Some previous comments:
2024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41566097
But to a degree it is also about the code. Sometimes your requirements are: be fast enough. In which case you need to think about code: instructions and data.
Software should be about the code, but not for every person on every project for all parts of that project.
It's great to "wake up" and realize that code doesn't have the intrinsic value you might have assumed, but you can also take that knowledge and go right back to writing beautiful code where it best serves the bigger mission.
And there too CS must work in business ... these ties are not optional carrying large magintudes.
It's about whether your code earns someone money.
"Software is a just a tool to help accomplish something for people - many programmers never understood that. Keep your eyes on the delivered value, and don't over focus on the specifics of the tools"
That said, I don't think Carmack would ever say that software isn't about code. It's more that code should be written and evaluated based on how much net value it delivers to people, not on arbitrary technical metrics.
In fact, after every 15-20 years working for corporate america i get so sick of it, I take 18-24 months off. The first time I went back to school. This time im working on a start up.
"Management"? Pleeeaaaassse .. 99% are glorified overpaid babysitters and gossipers with consequent degradation of organizational cohesion.
You better hope I don't aim AI at your job!
Now, I have run into some super smart middle managers. My better half works for a wonderful set of people. Man oh man what a difference the gems make. Thank goodness there are some guys and gals out there who bring the good stuff!
But the other 80% wears me out periodically.