Even the idea of "coding circles around someone" is kind of odious -- team sport everybody. Yes you will have better and worse developers but if it's actively your aim to code circles around someone on your team you're not doing your team a service.
I tried my hand at basketball as a youth and the specter of the ball hog loomed big in the head of the coach. Fast forward six years and I'm a club cyclist, where I learned a lot about teamwork that I think most programmers never really learn. When you understand something but have no shared context, there can be a lot of resistance to change.
Peculiar to cycling, hiking, rowing, and only a handful of other team activities is how concretely they demonstrate both failing or succeeding together, and how our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. A person having a good day can bolster the person having a bad one, via literal load shedding, and that feedback is immediate and obvious to all. With basketball, football, or many other sports, this can be pretty subtle, and may be lost entirely on spectators.
Yes I believe I understand and agree with what you are talking about.
I was a varsity wrestler and football player in high-school and in football you can have one break out star and it really can considerably change the game but they are still largely supported by everyone on the field playing their position as best they can. Your QB can be absolutely amazing but if a guard or tackle is slacking that QB is going to be sacked over and over but in most cases it's a lot harder to see the impact.
In wrestling everyone can individually perform amazingly but at most you're only contributing 6 points to the score but if you've ever seen one wrestler perform well at the top of the lineup you can just see how it influences everyone else and triggers a run, like you said immediate and obvious to all.
Comments
Even the idea of "coding circles around someone" is kind of odious -- team sport everybody. Yes you will have better and worse developers but if it's actively your aim to code circles around someone on your team you're not doing your team a service.
I tried my hand at basketball as a youth and the specter of the ball hog loomed big in the head of the coach. Fast forward six years and I'm a club cyclist, where I learned a lot about teamwork that I think most programmers never really learn. When you understand something but have no shared context, there can be a lot of resistance to change.
Peculiar to cycling, hiking, rowing, and only a handful of other team activities is how concretely they demonstrate both failing or succeeding together, and how our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. A person having a good day can bolster the person having a bad one, via literal load shedding, and that feedback is immediate and obvious to all. With basketball, football, or many other sports, this can be pretty subtle, and may be lost entirely on spectators.
Yes I believe I understand and agree with what you are talking about.
I was a varsity wrestler and football player in high-school and in football you can have one break out star and it really can considerably change the game but they are still largely supported by everyone on the field playing their position as best they can. Your QB can be absolutely amazing but if a guard or tackle is slacking that QB is going to be sacked over and over but in most cases it's a lot harder to see the impact.
In wrestling everyone can individually perform amazingly but at most you're only contributing 6 points to the score but if you've ever seen one wrestler perform well at the top of the lineup you can just see how it influences everyone else and triggers a run, like you said immediate and obvious to all.