Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

How to woo developers

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:8/18/1999; 7:33:32 AM
Topic:What is Scripting News?
Msg #:9628 (In response to 9626)
Prev/Next:9627 / 9629

A refinement to Platform is Chinese Household, written in 10/94.

A message I posted on discuss.outliners.com a few days ago. Don't say "make me an outliner because I need one" or worse, "make me an outliner because you owe me one," instead say "make me an outliner because you're the best."

It's really that simple. Come to us in our power, our creativity, not our fear. Tell us what you want and then let us compete to give it to you. That's been the consistent message from developers to their bosses, clients, tool vendors and platform vendors.

I've learned over and over that the world misunderstands and mistrusts programmers. Is there something wrong with programmers or is there something wrong with the world?

At its best programming is a skilled artform, requiring enormous dedication and focus. Like other artforms, most people can only appreciate the results, if that much. But trust this, it's hard to be a good programmer. And when it happens, respect it, even celebrate it.

At UserLand, I'm watching as two young men completely blossom as programmers. Brent Simmons and Andre Radke. It's something to behold. There's huge integrity here and committment to excellence. This is no less a profession than medicine and no easier than science. And it gets even hairier when the goal is to produce something that performs well and is easy to use. I am in awe of the human race that can produce this kind of work. We should be very proud of our planet.

One more link: Programmers.

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