There's a happy middle ground here, no need to split hairs or be black and white. One formula that works is, be a legit programmer/developer/hacker, but be able to communicate with business people on the business level about business problems. Preferably using your own original language, rather than pre-packaged MBA-speak (though sometimes even that stuff is useful if a particular client needs to hear it).
One formula that works is, be a legit programmer/developer/hacker, but be able to communicate with business people on the business level about business problems.
That's what I'm really getting at.
At the end of the day the person who decides to give you money in exchange for your code is a business person who wants to pay you to solve their business problems. Showing them that you understand and have experience solving those problems is as important as proving your mettle to other programmers.
And personally I've always had a much harder time with the business people interviews than the technical interviews. It's something that I have had to really work at, but it's helped me much more than I could've imagined.
Yup. I'd say if you're capable of doing both, do both. But if not, focus on being the best programmer you can be. It's the foundation for everything else.
Comments
There's a happy middle ground here, no need to split hairs or be black and white. One formula that works is, be a legit programmer/developer/hacker, but be able to communicate with business people on the business level about business problems. Preferably using your own original language, rather than pre-packaged MBA-speak (though sometimes even that stuff is useful if a particular client needs to hear it).
That's what I'm really getting at.
At the end of the day the person who decides to give you money in exchange for your code is a business person who wants to pay you to solve their business problems. Showing them that you understand and have experience solving those problems is as important as proving your mettle to other programmers.
And personally I've always had a much harder time with the business people interviews than the technical interviews. It's something that I have had to really work at, but it's helped me much more than I could've imagined.
Yup. I'd say if you're capable of doing both, do both. But if not, focus on being the best programmer you can be. It's the foundation for everything else.