You're Not a Programmer Until...

19 Feb 2025 #misc

Today I found a post claiming you’re not a senior software engineer until you work on a legacy app.

It made me think when we can call ourselves programmers.

So, you’re not a programmer until:

1. You write a to-do app or a recipe catalog
2. You google how to become a better coder
3. You have an interview with a clueless recruiter
4. You copy and paste a code block from StackOverflow
5. You take down a database server with a bad written query
6. You read the Clean Code and want to rewrite all code around you
7. You debug a program using Console.WriteLine or console.log or printf statements
8. You get a Project Manager asking you how you’re doing with your tasks more than once a day
9. You google your error message and find an open issue on GitHub
10. You delete a database table with a DELETE without WHERE
11. You argue about a variable name during a code review
12. You write a class Person when learning about OOP
13. You code a calculator app using JavaScript
14. You work on a full rewrite of a legacy app
15. You google how to center a div on a webpage

I asked some of my friends and ex-coworkers to complete that sentence. And here’s what they told me.

You’re not a programmer until…

1. You write your first “Hello, world” program
2. You stay awake until 3AM solving a coding issue
3. Your code works on your machine, but not in Production
4. You get a compilation error on line 123 on a 40-line code file
5. You deploy a hotfix to Production at 17:55 (and you clock out at 18:00)