Darrell Norton's Blog [MVP]

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Random Observation #3

Hilarious quote about "experienced" software developers:

"Having many years of experience only establishes that one is old, not that one is correct."

[courtesy of Hacknot]

I can't tell you how many times people have argued with me saying "I've been doing this for 15 years!" So you're not only arrogant, but ignorant as well? What a worthless argument.

Published May 25 2004, 05:18 AM by darrell

Comments

T Rivers said:

So True...

# May 25, 2004 1:27 AM

Mark Bonafe said:

Very funny. That sounds like the attitude I had when I was in the early stages of my career. By itself, yes, the argument is worthless. However, if the person saying it has clout with the client and has multiple successful projects under their belt, the statement does indeed carry weight.

It must be backed up, though, with a more thoughtful arguement than "I've been doing this for 15 years and this is the way I've always done it." Ouch! That's an opening to really slam the door on the idiot making the statement. Nothing! Absolutely nothing in this business lasts 15 years; especially "the way it's done." Unfortunately, it's an argument I hear way too often.

How's the statement go? "People who think they know everything really irritate those of us that do!"

# May 25, 2004 1:31 AM

Darrell said:

Mark - right, I assumed the "and this is the way I've always done it" part without explicitly saying it. Experience does count, as long as its *good* experience.

# May 25, 2004 1:41 AM

Steve said:

I had somebody say that to me just the other day, classic.

# May 25, 2004 1:57 AM

Steve Hebert said:

Good experience is the key. I can't remember who said it years ago, but so many older developers have 15 years of the same 1 year experience as opposed to 15 years of constant skill growth and development.

# May 25, 2004 3:18 AM

Dan W. said:

In order to profit from experiences one must try things more than one way.

# May 25, 2004 3:22 AM

Darrell said:

Steve Hebert - "15 years of the same 1 year experience", very nice! That's a good point.

# May 25, 2004 4:44 AM

Mark Bonafe said:

"15 years of the same 1 year experience." Nice! Isn't that taking iterative development a bit too far?

# May 25, 2004 6:58 AM

Darrell said:

That's infinite recursive development, it only ends when the memory crashes. :)

# May 25, 2004 7:18 AM

Steve Hebert said:

LOL. Now I finally know why they sell ECC memory...

I knew a guy back in the mid-90s who loved FoxPro - their whole system was written in it. It was a nice system, but scalability became an issue. The company made a couple of changes and rewrote the application in Oracle. Grossly over-budget and under-performing, they recently decided to scrap the oracle program and rewrite it. After 7 years of holding his breath he's trying to make a case to rewrite it in FoxPro.

Now I'm not an anti-foxpro guy, I think it was a great tool... in 1993.

# June 1, 2004 9:14 AM