If I'm having a house painted I'd rather have just a few of the decent painters, thank you :-)
If I'm having a single canvas painted, and can afford someone like Da Vinci, then I'd get Da Vinci. Otherwise I'll just have to make do with some of the decent painters. Of course, I believe Da Vinci took 17+ years to craft the Mona Lisa, so I might have to wait quite a while for my masterpiece... Interestingly, and tellingly, is that each of those painters you mentioned created thousands and thousands of drawings during their lifetime: backing up Gladwell's observation about 10 years of practice before you become good at something. So what I'm learning is only hire much older and experienced developers :-) Also, of interest to me is that Van Gogh was spurned during his life. The popular acclaim only came later. So if his genius wasn't recognized, what hope do we have in identifying great developers? Hmm, if companies were prepared to pay their top developers 100* more than their bottom ones we might certainly get those metrics refined! Martin PS: Perhaps what we need really are developers with 1000's of hours of experience rather than 1000's of developers? On 23 June 2011 16:35, Bart Jellema <b...@rtje.net> wrote: > Coding is art (at least in innovative start-ups/companies). Would you rather > have a group of 1000 decent painters or Van Gogh, Picasso and Da Vinci > collaborating... In my mind this has nothing to do with productivity because > 'great hackers' produce an entirely different type of output. > > Sent using ZEROmail... > > Martin Paulo wrote: > > This podcast seems topical to this discussion: > http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/06/se-podcast-09/ > > The page gives a good overview of the discussion, with links, if you > just want to skim it. > > Martin > > -- > ================================================================== > > Martin Paulo, BSc. > Software Developer > > Tel : +61-3-9434 2508 (Home) > Tel : 04 205 20339 (Mobile) > Site: http://www.thepaulofamily.net > > "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded" - Yogi Berra. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. > > Guidelines on discussion: > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den > > No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. > > Guidelines on discussion: > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den > > No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > -- ================================================================== Martin Paulo, BSc. Software Developer Tel : +61-3-9434 2508 (Home) Tel : 04 205 20339 (Mobile) Site: http://www.thepaulofamily.net "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded" - Yogi Berra. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
