Ed and John, Sometimes because of circumstances programmers get locked into their positions because no opportunities inside the Company or because they are too good at what they do. I was in operations and that happened.
Scott ford www.identityforge.com Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand. - Chinese Proverb On Feb 17, 2013, at 10:45 AM, Ed Gould <edgould1...@comcast.net> wrote: > John: > > Well we are both right. COBOL types are essentially slaves. As we all know > there are two (maybe three) kind of slaves. > 1. Just coders. 2. Coders with a want to learn 3. Coders who have an > imagination. > > Ed > > > On Feb 17, 2013, at 7:47 AM, John Gilmore wrote: > >> Ed Gould wrote: >> >> <begin extract> >> I suspect COBOL programmers want to lean how to basically code COBOL >> programs and how to debug them PERIOD >> </end extract> >> >> I instead suspect that EG has described what the managers of these >> COBOL programmers want them to learn. >> >> G. H. Hardy wrote that 1) intellectual curiosity, a desire to know how >> things work, 2) craftsmanship, the need to do the best job one knows >> how to do, and 3) a desire for recognition, even fame, are sine quibus >> non for success at any intellectual task. >> >> Managers who employ programmers who lack these three characteristics >> get the mediocrity they deserve. >> >> It is already clear that in the near-term future almost all real >> programming will be done by hardware vendors, ISVs, and hobbyists; and >> this is as well. >> >> Mediocrity as a desideratum is a very curious notion. When, long ago, >> my wife and I sought an obstetrician to deliver our children we did >> not set out to find a minimally adequate one. Or again, when recently >> I needed legal advice I did not seek out a lawyer who was not >> overqualified. >> >> It is hard to resist the conclusion that these managers, who are not >> themselves programmers, have, with no understanding of the 'skill set' >> that programmers need, taken refuge yet again in crackpot realism. >> Production lines, particularly those that are highly automated, can be >> managed. Programming projects must be led. >> >> John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
