Re: Query for Top 10 Most "Expensive" Queries

Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_exxesolutions.com> wrote .

> As an instructor I can tell you from experience that you are incorrect.
> Programming is a skill. Great programming adds artistic talent to the
> skill. Most of the time I'd be happy to see a bit more skill. And the
> skill is something that is taught and learned.

Hmm.. maybe you are right Daniel. Here's my take though.

I have very little recent experience in the formal training side (last run developer courses in the early & mid 90's). But I found back then that certain students have just an uncanny knack to grasp the basics and took to it like a fish to water.

Which is why I called it an art. You can teach someone like me to play guitar, but I'll never sound like Dave Gilmour even after a lifetime of practise. :-)

On those courses I had students who had 20+ years of programming experience.. but the light just failed to go on. Among these courses, we had a formal 4GL programming course for all new contractors on projects - having some experience as instructor in the army (knowing what a lesson plan is ;-), I had the dubious honour of presenting those.

In various offices over the year the same thing. I still get programmers that I only need to explain a concept with half-a-word. You can literally see the light going on as they immediately grasp what you're saying (not just that, but seeing them running with the idea and assimilating it).

Then there are the other which still get it wrong even after I have explained in numerous times on the white board. And both sets of programmers share the same type of training and experience.

So what makes the difference?

Another analogy. Everyone can be taught to box. Yet, it takes a certain type of personality and a certain level of physical prowess to be a good boxer. I believe the same to be true about programming. But in this case it is more of a certain mental ability. Not that they are cleverer. Simply are wired a tad different making them inherantly better programmers. (the type who prefer playing Minesweeper oppose to Patience :-)

Still - without training and practising, that talent cannot stand on its own.

> The problem today is that most people became programmers by
> self-annointing themselves after banging around in Basic, VB, or MS
> Access. They convinced some less than skilled manager to let them work
> on an Oracle or other major project ... and have been making messes ever
> since.

Very true. And it is very difficult training people like that as they first need to be untaught bad habits before the training can start.

> A cram course for an OCP is not training. But you'd be hard pressed to
> convince a lot of people of that fact. They build a few tables and call
> themselves developers.

Also true. Then (if you're me) you sit with massive complex triggers populating _AU tables for auditing and a "Oh!? I did not know Oracle had in-built auditing." Among other things... <sigh>

--
Billy