Spot on. We're always something. Sometimes we're a language, other times we're a framework or something else. Spend enough years programming and there will always be something in which you specialized. Doesn't mean you shouldn't pick up something different if you want to. Doesn't mean you shouldn't want to, either ;)
But if you must be something why can't you be "versatile" or "jack of all trades"?
Maybe not the best examples given but hopefully you see the point? I work for a company doing shell, C, Java coding... my manager comes up time to time asking if I can do something Python or TCL not because I can or can't do them, but because he knows I can pick them up fast enough to resolve the problem we're experiencing.
Like I said, there's no reason why you shouldn't want to pick up something new. In fact, unless you overspecialize, picking up new things gets easier with years. It's fun and refreshing and helps you learn new things. And as a plus, you become the guy people go to because he can learn new things.
However, that doesn't mean that most of us don't have something we like and are comfortable with, more than other things. For me, it used to be Delphi, until I switched to Java and then it became Java. Nowadays I can code comfortably in C/C++, Java and Python; I have some non-trivial experience with C#, Ruby and Common Lisp; I've played a bit with Haskell, Io and Self; and I'm learning Scala because I want to write serious code in it. Despite that, if you asked me what's the language (and standard library) I'm most familiar with, I'll tell you it's Java. Doesn't mean I think it's the best thing since sliced bread or that I want to stay with it forever. It just means that's my strongest language/platform for the moment.
Most people I know have branched a lot less. They have one primary language/platform and know bits an pieces of something else (usually Perl and shell scripting) to help them with "duct-tape work". They'll pick up new things if they need/want to, but for the moment they identify themselves most strongly with their primary language/platform.
It's worse than that even. In much of Corporate America you are whatever keywords the HR person has been told to look for! Language, framework, operating system ... it's all the same to HR.
Comments
Of course I’m not a language, I’m a framework. Never mind “Java,” am I Spring or am I Struts?
Never mind “Ruby,” am I Rails 2.x or 3.x?
—
This may seem tongue-in-cheek, but regardless of how we see ourselves, ignoring how others see us is an exercise in frustration:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/LordPalmerston.html
Spot on. We're always something. Sometimes we're a language, other times we're a framework or something else. Spend enough years programming and there will always be something in which you specialized. Doesn't mean you shouldn't pick up something different if you want to. Doesn't mean you shouldn't want to, either ;)
But if you must be something why can't you be "versatile" or "jack of all trades"?
Maybe not the best examples given but hopefully you see the point? I work for a company doing shell, C, Java coding... my manager comes up time to time asking if I can do something Python or TCL not because I can or can't do them, but because he knows I can pick them up fast enough to resolve the problem we're experiencing.
Like I said, there's no reason why you shouldn't want to pick up something new. In fact, unless you overspecialize, picking up new things gets easier with years. It's fun and refreshing and helps you learn new things. And as a plus, you become the guy people go to because he can learn new things.
However, that doesn't mean that most of us don't have something we like and are comfortable with, more than other things. For me, it used to be Delphi, until I switched to Java and then it became Java. Nowadays I can code comfortably in C/C++, Java and Python; I have some non-trivial experience with C#, Ruby and Common Lisp; I've played a bit with Haskell, Io and Self; and I'm learning Scala because I want to write serious code in it. Despite that, if you asked me what's the language (and standard library) I'm most familiar with, I'll tell you it's Java. Doesn't mean I think it's the best thing since sliced bread or that I want to stay with it forever. It just means that's my strongest language/platform for the moment.
Most people I know have branched a lot less. They have one primary language/platform and know bits an pieces of something else (usually Perl and shell scripting) to help them with "duct-tape work". They'll pick up new things if they need/want to, but for the moment they identify themselves most strongly with their primary language/platform.
It's worse than that even. In much of Corporate America you are whatever keywords the HR person has been told to look for! Language, framework, operating system ... it's all the same to HR.