You're Not a Programmer Until...

I originally posted this post on my blog.

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These days, I found a post claiming you're not a senior software engineer until you work on a legacy app.

It made me think when we can call ourselves programmers. Mmmm?

So, you're not a programmer until:

1. You write a to-do app or a recipe catalog
2. You google how to become a better coder
3. You have an interview with a clueless recruiter
4. You copy and paste a code block from StackOverflow
5. You take down a database server with a bad written query
6. You read the Clean Code and want to rewrite all code around you
7. You debug using Console.WriteLine or console.log or printf statements
8. You get a PM asking you how you're doing more than once a day
9. You google your error message and find an open GitHub issue
10. You delete a database table with a DELETE without WHERE
11. You argue about a variable name during a code review
12. You write a class Person or Shape when learning OOP
13. You code a calculator app using JavaScript
14. You work on a full rewrite of a legacy app
15. You google how to center a div

I asked some of my friends and ex-coworkers to complete that sentence. And here's what they told me.

You're not a programmer until...

1. You write your first "Hello, world" program
2. You stay awake until 3AM solving a coding issue
3. You're fixing an issue, it works and you don't know why
4. Your code works on your machine, but not in Production
5. You get a compilation error on line 123 on a 40-line code file
6. You deploy a hotfix to Production at 17:55 (and you clock out at 18:00)

What would you add to the list? When did you know you were a programmer? Leave your comment!

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Comments

[Baltasar García Perez-Schofield]

Ha ha ha... I've had a very good time reading this post. It seems I'm a senior programmer, after all.

[Cesar Aguirre]

I bet you are. The more boxes you check, the more senior you are :D

[Ben Halpern]

.. until you've programmed

[Cesar Aguirre]

Good point! 😂

[Anmol Baranwal]

Something that new vibe coders won’t understand :)

I’ve always believed that most of coding is about not giving up when we are stuck.

[Cesar Aguirre]

Something that new vibe coders won’t understand :)

LOL

I’ve always believed that most of coding is about not giving up when we are stuck.

Agree. The struggle is part of the process too.

[Scott]

Good thread! A few more:

• Built a collection of most-used code snippets
• You've spent time researching and installing your favorite code editor/IDE's plugins and themes to maximize aesthetics and productivity while programming
• Started a dev blog to share your learning and programming journey to hopefully save others the trouble of debugging code issues that you spent hours fixing
• Have a folder of unfinished projects (😅)

[Cesar Aguirre]

I check all of them. 😂 Good additions!

[keyr_syntax]

You have used the following git command at least once in your life time 😂
git push --force --all

[Cesar Aguirre]

or a git reset --hard or delete your local repo and clone it again 😂

[Steffen H. Nielsen]

1. Set your git username to "User" so they can't blame you.

[Cesar Aguirre]

Ooohhh! That's a good one! :D

[Tylish Anup]

Hmm... Sounds great.

[Eljay-Adobe]

You're not a programmer until:

• you have found the bug while using a debugger stepping through the assembly code, and fixed it using that information

[Darren Street]

..until you've said. "Well, it works in Dev"

[drivenmad byapuzzle]

add: You feel stupid by constantly trying to learn new things that you do not know the jargon or maybe the flow of whats happening deep down... :))