Re: Is Necessary for all rails employee know computer knowledge?

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Eleanor McHugh wrote:

|
| It's a fascinating article, not least because I can see where both the
| author and the interviewee are coming from. Once you know a decent
| amount of computer science it's often difficult to take developers
| seriously who lack that background, but by doing so we miss the benefits
| that knowledge from other disciplines can offer in solving complex
| problems.

The largest benefit is derived from attacking the same problem from
different angles, which gives more options and a better understanding of
the problem space.

Discounting someone because they don't know the Big-O notation by heart
can be as dangerous as hiring somebody who knows only algorithms.

| I started out in physics and I've spent a fair amount of my professional
| career arguing with very capable CS experts over all kinds of problems
| which are elementary with my background but have them scuttling back to
| graph theory, and conversely I meet a lot of web developers who've come
| from a non-academic and despite being very good at their specialism have
| a complete lack of confidence about their abilities.

Well, if next to all advice is 'you have to know Big-O notation, and
half the *-tree algorithms so that I would even consider reading your
resume', a lack of confidence does emerge.

I know, I am there, and finding the courage to apply for a job, or going
independent is an exercise in itself.

| So no, in my
| opinion a rails programmer doesn't have to be a whizz at computer
| science or even necessarily with computers - although what kind of
| masochist works all day with tools that they neither like or understand?

Programmers, as opposed to developers. A programmer sees software
development as a means to a paycheck end. Developers see software as a
means in itself, with the paycheck being a bonus. ;)

I am, of course, painting with a broad brush here..

| On the other hand there are certain key abilities that any developer
| does need, and which I've found surprisingly lacking in many that I've
| worked with: a grasp of basic logic; ability to sequence and classify; a
| cool head when things aren't going well; intense curiosity.

Well, what is basic logic? The boolean logic found in computer
languages? Abstract logic? Aristotelian logic? ;)

I guess you mean both boolean as well as abstract logic, as those go
hand in hand (pretty much). And yes, both are quite important areas of
knowledge.

Since computers are only good at distinguishing 0's and 1's, knowing how
logic works helps in understanding program flow, and programming in it self.

It also enables to look at systems programming, and even peek into chip
design (with AND, OR, XOR, NAND gates....).

Which all helps in staying sharp (and learning that, in the end, the
language matters less than the ability to think one's way out of a paper
bag :P).

Interestingly, the 'intense curiosity' is something that is seen as a
key element by a lot of high profile developers, which I noticed while
reading Ed Burn's 'Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers: Riding the IT
Crest'[0]. From James Gosling, to Dave Thomas (not the Programming Ruby
one :P), to Andy Hunt, to the Java Posse, curiosity is seen as pretty
much elementary.


| I must admit though that if I was dealing with a Rails team I would
| expect anyone who was a developer to know how to run up the application
| at least locally as that's a five minute google and falls under the
| 'intense curiosity' category ;)

Well, I'd like to see knowledge about deployment options, too. Not just
'mod_rails', or 'apache reverse proxy with mongrel pack'.

Though, similar should be expected by non-Rails developers: Available
options, and their pros and cons in situations (at least in a
superficial way that enables deeper research).

[0]
<http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Rock-Star-Programmers-Riding/dp/0071490833/>


- --
Phillip Gawlowski
Twitter: twitter.com/cynicalryan
Blog: http://justarubyist.blogspot.com

~ "That's the problem with science. You've got a bunch of empiricists
trying
to describe things of unimaginable wonder." -Calvin
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