Am I a Pragmatic Programmer?

By
Mark Tucker
Published: June 9, 2010Posted in: Pragmatic ProgrammerTags:

As promised, I will be transparent throughout the 52 Weeks to a Pragmatic Programmer challenge.  Here are my responses to the pre-assessment.

Scale: 0 – Strongly Disagree, 1 – Disagree, 2 – Neutral, 3 – Agree, 4 – Strongly Agree

  1. I am an early adopter and love trying new things. 4 – Strongly Agree
  2. I am a fast adapter. When given something new I grasp it quickly and am able to integrate it with the rest of my knowledge.  3 – Agree
  3. I am inquisitive.  I tend to ask lots of questions about how to do things or why they work the way they do. 3 – Agree
  4. I am a critical thinker. I seek to get the facts and not just accept a statement as truth. 3 – Agree
  5. I am realistic.  I understand that there is no such thing as an ideal day.  Often things are harder and take longer than expected. 3 – Agree
  6. I am a Jack of all trades.  I strive to keep abreast of new developments and a broad range of technologies and methodologies even though on my current project I may be a specialist. 2 – Neutral
  7. I see programming as a craft and I care about doing my craft well. 3 – Agree
  8. I think about my work and think about ways to improve. 3 – Agree

Now that I took the pre-assessment, I realize that some of my Agree responses would have been better answered by a Somewhat Agree if the choice had been available.  Overall, I think I possess the qualities mentioned above but I definitely have room for improvement.  At my previous employer, I tended to focus on only a few main technologies whereas now that I am consulting I am exposed to much more.  It is a welcome change.

Rate your overall level as a pragmatic programmer on a scale of 1-10 (1 being Journeyman and 10 being Master)

This question is hard to answer.  I have 14 years experience with software development so shouldn’t I be a Master by now?  But we are talking about being a pragmatic programmer.  I likely have much to learn about being pragmatic as these weekly challenges will demonstrate.  So I am going to rate myself more on the Journeyman side at a 4.

I hope others join in on this adventure.  If you do, please post or comment so that I don’t feel like I am doing this alone.

Thanks,

Mark

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