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Why Non-Coders Shouldn't Write Code

Posted by timothy on from the except-on-weekends dept.

jfruh writes "Software firm FreeCause made a bit of a splash with a policy that requires all its employees — including marketers, finance, etc. — to write JavaScript code. And not just 'code to learn basics of what JavaScript can do,' but 'write code that will be used in production.' Phil Johnson, a tech writer and editor who himself once coded for a living, thinks this is nuts, a recipe for miserable workers and substandard code."

5 of 421 comments (clear)

  1. Appreciation Exercise by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It will at least give the non coders an appreciation of what is being done.

    Now, they need to take the coders and make them do sales for a day.. finance go clean trash for an afternoon.. .etc etc.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Appreciation Exercise by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At the same you complain that Marketing people look down on you. But your job is important right? You're better then janitor right?

      Huh? I used to be a janitor, fella, and I can tell you, the people who spend their careers cleaning up your shit so you don't have to are some pretty fucking awesome people.

      Here's a word of advice - your pay scale does not, in any way, reflect what kind of person you are. One look into any boardroom in this nation is all one needs to know that most of the people who take home the lion's share are complete, abject pieces of shit. Hell, nevermind looking at them, just look at how much they pay themselves to do virtually nothing, compared to how much they pay the people who actually make their money for them.

      You want marketing people to respect you, but you don't respect them, or people that make your work comfrtable.

      I couldn't give a shit less what 'marketing people' or anyone else thinks of me, Chief. Spending your entire life trying to live up to other people's expectations of you is no way to live.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  2. Everyone needs to start somewhere by davidwr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We were all non-coders once.

    Saying non-coders shouldn't write code is like saying non-writers shouldn't write.

    How about: Don't expect consistently professional-quality code from inexperienced coders.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  3. Geekcentric Nonsense by fm6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Back in the 60s Robert Townsend was brought in to turn around a dying Avis Rent-a-Car. He decreed that everybody spend some time working a rental counter so they would understand the activity that was at the core of the business. He was very amused by the experience of his chief programmer, who fled in panic upon seeing his first customer!

    That was appreciation. This is geekcentric nonsense. The CEO doesn't just want everybody to better understand the coding, he actually thinks everybody can contribute to the codebase in an ongoing fashion. This is the classic geek fallacy of "everybody's brain works just like mine."

  4. Scott Adams did. by Medievalist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He didn't just spout computer-generated buzzwords on the phone, though, he actually put on a fake mustache and physically attended a meeting - spouting total drivel. Nobody noticed until he started drawing Dilbert cartoons on the blackboard!

    http://www.tealdragon.net/humor/articles/dil-hoax.htm