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Discussion on: The Rewrite vs Refactor Debate: 8 Things You Need to Know

 
bosepchuk profile image
Blaine Osepchuk • Edited

Good points. Robert Martin has said similar things about the relationship between the growth in the number of programmers and what that means for our demographics.

I've only ever worked in small companies so I can't speak to the truth of how they tend to staff the product owner role. But what you're saying makes intuitive sense to me. Stereotypical programmer thinking is not well aligned with stereotypical business thinking. Putting an MBA in to middle might help the business types sleep well at night knowing someone like them is in charge.

The thing that might be different is that not a lot of programmers want to be business types because the money is so good in programming and many/most programmers love to code. I've read that is not uncommon for the senior devs to make more money than their bosses. So, in other industries, moving to management is a way to advance your career and make more money. But in programming it means learning about business, getting involved in politics, and watching your extremely valuable programming skills deteriorate, while you supervise people doing the work you actually love. And potentially making less money.

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jillesvangurp profile image
Jilles van Gurp

It was indeed uncle Bob that wrote about this blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2014.... Must have confused the two. Anyway, fun statistics.

Regarding senior devs, I know a few (myself included) that are more or less self propelled. I tend to think of managers more like customers than leadership these days.