Richie308 wrote:
A hacker is not truly happy unless he can point to someone less knowledgeable and call him a "script kiddy." Someone with a Computer Science degree will find ways to put down those who are self-taught, and those who are self-taught will find ways to put down those with degrees.
I thin any company should have a mix of both, the advantage of having someone with a more methodical approach working with or against someone who has never been in the box, the solutions provided are varied and interesting. Code Monkeys? Script kiddies? surely these are the gurus of the future, I think the most important factors in being a good programmer have nothing to do with actually writing code, persisitence, consitution, insolence, curiousity, self reflection, passion, creativity. Most of these assets will never be taught by a university. Thinking patterns are just as important as book learned knowledge, it's why the CIA trains musicians as codebreaker. Obviously anyone who turns to labeling someone is simply demonstrating his / her own insecurity. It's counter productive, how many people are put off from really devoting themselves because some wank has gone off and said, you could never do that, you are script kiddie, code monkey, or some other label. I think it's important to tell newbies (there is nothing wrong with being newbie right?) do it for yourself, do it the best your can, listen to constructive criticism and ignore the wankers. I do not care HOW valuable or Irreplaceable you think you are, I would much rather delete all your code than hear you dishearten anyone else. My greatest respect has always been to those who do very good, do not gloat when actually they should and always can see themselves in the newbie.