All those "superstar" programmers started somewhere.
Whether they were a teenage-hacker prodigy or not is irrelevant, they were young, inexperienced, and foolish programmers at one point.
Yet once they age (and gain knowledge, or perhaps more importantly, _practical_ experience) they suddenly forget that their journey had a beginning.
When you're on the road, everything feels like the middle. So I think it's important to keep perspective, and realize that (irrespective of age) their journey has just been longer than yours.
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The other thing is: I think a programmer's fundamental job is to make computers useful for people.
At the end of the day: we provide meaningful abstractions that allow others to get computable tasks done.
I don't think it really matters how you define "get stuff done."
To the end user: the computer is a blackbox.
The fact that they can buy underwear online is just as amazing as the fact that they can turn around and plug in their digital camera. Thanks to the magic of device drivers; they can then download pictures of themselves in their fancy new underwear.
So, no, I don't think a web developer is any less of a programmer. For the same reason I don't look at a heart doctor and think: "he is clearly less of a doctor than the neurosurgeon down the hall."
All those "superstar" programmers started somewhere.
Whether they were a teenage-hacker prodigy or not is irrelevant, they were young, inexperienced, and foolish programmers at one point.
Yet once they age (and gain knowledge, or perhaps more importantly, _practical_ experience) they suddenly forget that their journey had a beginning.
When you're on the road, everything feels like the middle. So I think it's important to keep perspective, and realize that (irrespective of age) their journey has just been longer than yours.
---
The other thing is: I think a programmer's fundamental job is to make computers useful for people.
At the end of the day: we provide meaningful abstractions that allow others to get computable tasks done.
I don't think it really matters how you define "get stuff done."
To the end user: the computer is a blackbox.
The fact that they can buy underwear online is just as amazing as the fact that they can turn around and plug in their digital camera. Thanks to the magic of device drivers; they can then download pictures of themselves in their fancy new underwear.
So, no, I don't think a web developer is any less of a programmer. For the same reason I don't look at a heart doctor and think: "he is clearly less of a doctor than the neurosurgeon down the hall."
Just my $.02