Uncle Bob delivered a compelling keynote at RailsConf last week that put forth the argument that what we need most in programming is more professionalism. I loved the delivery, but I disagree with the conclusion.
I originally never wanted to be a programmer exactly because I thought the only type of programmers that existed where the kind that Bob talked about: The engineers with the proud professional practices that never wavered under pressure.
While I deeply respected that stature, it just never felt like a place that I belonged. I didn't identify with the engineering man or the seriousness of the efforts he pursued. Before I discovered Ruby, I felt in large parts that I was just faking my way along in this world. Here at a brief time for rent.
But that all changed when I found Ruby and a community consisting as much of artists as engineers. People waxing lyrically about beautiful code and its sensibilities. People willing to trade the hard scientific measurements such as memory footprint and runtime speed for something so ephemeral as programmer happiness.
That's where I found an identity that I could finally relate to directly. That's when I finally got really passionate about what I do for a living and started to blossom my own participation.
Now the wonderful thing about this new age of programming is that we need and prosper from both types of programmers. I believe Ruby is such a fantastic community and platform exactly because both types are coming together and sharing with each other. The bazaar is so much richer when the cultural backgrounds of the participants are diverse.
So while I love the idea of Bob's green wristband that reminds him always to do test-first development and his own personal professional oath, that level of adherence has never worked for me. I never had the discipline it takes to fulfill such a lofty goal of professionalism.
Now Bob may think that there's no place for people like me in programming (I sure know plenty of people who do!), I obviously think that would be a mistake. Not just because I've grown rather fond of what I do, but because I've seen so many other unprofessionals just like me come in and add those delicious twists that can really change things.
We aren't perfect. We often swear, act unresponsively, and can certainly be characterized as unprofessional a lot of the time. But I think that together with professionals like Bob, we stand a good chance leaving the world of programming in a better condition than we found it.