What kind of developer are you?

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Dzone ran an article listing different types of "senior" developers.

So what kind of developer are you from the list? I'm a toolsmith most of my time with architecture, team lead and a few other things thrown in.

[J. Kevin Robbins]

I'm a technologist. I got my start in hardware support, but after I learned how all the hardware worked, software was still a mystery, so I branched out.

I've been taking things apart to see how they work since about age 4. Every computer I've ever owned (dozens) was built from a box of parts; I've never purchased a ready-to-run computer. No Rasberry Pi though. Yet.

But I did hack my Xbox with a mod chip. Does that count?

[margaret gillon]

I am a Backend Girl. I really like looking at data and tweaking structures to eliminate duplicate information. It's very relaxing. Enjoy building stored procedures, views, triggers, and functions to provide data and cut down on old code in multiple reporting systems that are getting out of sync on business rules.

[Winston Gutkowski]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:So what kind of developer are you from the list? I'm a toolsmith most of my time...

After 35 years, I've probably covered most bases, but I'd say that my strengths are in the 'toolsmith' and 'backend' areas - and my weaknesses too.

I love breaking down problems and structures empiricially, and providing generic solutions and properly normalized data models. On the flip side, I detest GUI frameworks, web design, markup languages in general, and (usually) the "drudgework" of implementing basic business processes.
I also need someone good behind me to crack the whip; otherwise I can easily get stuck in "development paralysis".

In other words: I'm not a good 80/20 guy.

Winston

PS: Great article, and the "labels" are spot on. Bookmarked.

[Bill Gorder]

It's hard to pick one of those and depending on what week you ask me my answer would probably be different.

[Jelle Klap]

How about these types, would you admit to being on of these if you were?

[Bill Gorder]

Jelle Klap wrote:How about these types, would you admit to being on of these if you were?

Evangelist, although most projects I still get to do a good amount of programming (when I am not drawing bubbles, in meetings, filling out request tickets or sending e-mails) . When I don't get to program at work, I do it at home and learn new technologies to evangelize

[Bill Gorder]

From the first post I am probably a technologist at heart, although thats not the hat I always get to wear.

[Bear Bibeault]

I will have to admit to being a bit of a Gandalf. But just a short beard (I'd love to grow a Santa beard in the winters, but when it gets any longer than an inch or so, it just starts doing weird Castro things), and no funny hat (unless you consider Ivy caps funny).

[Bill Gorder]

Bear Bibeault wrote:I will have to admit to being a bit of a Gandalf. But just a short beard (I'd love to grow a Santa beard in the winters, but when it gets any longer than an inch or so, it just starts doing weird Castro things), and no funny hat (unless you consider Ivy caps funny).

Funny you should post just now, because I was thinking of you as I read the Gandalf one. I recall some of your stories you have posted from ages past. Maybe it was your book bio's I can't remember now

[Bear Bibeault]

Bill Gorder wrote:Funny you should post just now, because I was thinking of you as I read the Gandalf one.

[Bill Gorder]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Bear debugs the user interface code

Oh crap... It looks like someone put Java code in the JSP again!

[K. Tsang]

From the first list, I say I'm a Backend and Front End developer for any coding projects. Start working on the backend then half way work on the front end. So by the end, I would have covered every tier of the project.


As the second list, the evangelist when I have a say in the design phase. And sometimes I consider myself as the Ninja (woo cool name!).

[Jelle Klap]

K. Tsang wrote:From the first list, I say I'm a Backend and Front End developer for any coding projects. Start working on the backend then half way work on the front end. So by the end, I would have covered every tier of the project.

As the second list, the evangelist when I have a say in the design phase. And sometimes I consider myself as the Ninja (woo cool name!).

A programmer at the last client I worked for was dubbed "The Ninja" a few years ago, based on this article, but more because he was definitely the MVP and he was well liked
I guess it grew on him, because he even started using a ninja avatar on his profile on the internal wiki.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I don't identify with any of those in the second list. It's funny because in the first list I was torn between a couple. I think part of it is because of the way the descriptions are. For example the Ninja helps fix things at 4am. Well, I help fix things during the day. But I communicate with people and don't pull the rug out from under them.

[Paul Clapham]

I think I was all of the positions in the original post, except for Team Lead, at some point of time. I don't think I usually went to the extremes mentioned at the end of each paragraph -- not too much, anyway. My fellow employees might disagree though.