Very honest piece. As a software developer of any walk or flavor, you work a market, so you have to sell something, to offer some value to someone. Making yourself hireable entails making this value explicit. So shine away.
Here's a good quote out of the article that has prompted some bitter responses:
Youโre in the business of unemploying people. If you think that is unfair, go back to school and study something that doesnโt matter.
I get the bitterness, but I totally agree with the author. How do you think have computers become so important in this economy? They were born to run complicated and tedious calculations. However, they have taken so much market space because of automation: doing stuff that people use to do more reliably and more cheaply. Hence, putting people out of jobs.
I write some programs for my own uses. What for? Automating tedious tasks such as backups and data processing chains. I put myself out of these tedious jobs -- good for me! But you know, ATMs were programmed by people like you and me, and because of these, you don't get to speak to nice ladies when you withdraw a bit of the money you made doing so. Wherever we stand as software pros, be it developers, but also writers, teachers, executives of software companies or whatever, we all stand in favor of automation, some way or other, directly or indirectly, happily or sadly or blindly. What Patrick McKenzie says is that this shirt is mandatory dress code: if the collar chafes, you have got to change.
