From: Jim Freeze Date: 2004-06-09T23:21:59+09:00 Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Unit tests ... not just for the young On Wednesday, 9 June 2004 at 23:02:22 +0900, Tom Copeland wrote: > On Wed, 2004-06-09 at 09:56, Michael Campbell wrote: > > On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 22:48:30 +0900, Tom Copeland wrote: > > > > > > I'd be afraid to hire a code-monkey who said yes. > > > > > > Hm. Do you feel that there's a different calling to which a programmer > > > should aspire? I mean... "architect", or some such? > > > > Maybe not some specific calling, but one should have SOME aspiration > > to "move up/on" occasionally; I THINK that's what he was getting at. > > Yup, I agree that that's what he was getting at. But is "architect" the > sort of thing that one would move up to? Or maybe "CIO" or some other > non-technical sort of thing? > > Or were you just thinking of "moving on" in the sense of moving to a > different type of programming - i.e., embedded vs web or some such? > > I guess I'm just interested in exploring what folks think a programmer > should aspire to move on to. > At my company, we have two career tracks (called ladders): Technical and Managerial. You can be either an individual contributor, or a manager. :) Some tech people are team leads or may have direct reports, but they are not considered managers -- I'm not sure where the line is drawn. As for myself, I can't bring myself to aspire to a manager position yet. Maybe when I am older (like 80). There are some multi talented people out there, but I wonder if a good programmer can really aspire to a managerial postion. To be a good programmer, you really have to love what you do. How could someone aspire to move away from something they really love? -- Jim Freeze No matter what other nations may say about the United States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.