I’ve always hated the term “Programmer.” Like a craftsman, I’m a Developer.
Patrick McKenzie has a great writeup on this:
Engineers are hired to create business value, not to program things: Businesses do things for irrational and political reasons all the time (see below), but in the main they converge on doing things which increase revenue or reduce costs.
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Producing beautiful software is not a goal. Solving complex technical problems is not a goal. Writing bug-free code is not a goal. Using sexy programming languages is not a goal. Add revenue. Reduce costs. Those are your only goals.
I’ll add that adding perceived business value is also a goal (playing off McKenzie’s “Businesses do things for irrational…reasons”). If your boss feels happy, then you’re doing the right thing. Most of the time.
Where we run into trouble is when the boss is a micro-manager, is inexperienced and/or plain-ol-wrong. What do you do? As a professional, speak up and say what’s on your mind, diplomatically. Then do whatever the boss says, cheerfully.
Is this always the best solution? Sometimes it is and sometimes it is not. The boss that thinks for his employees is doing exactly the wrong thing, though:
