Why I Refuse to Write Technical Programming Articles
The philosophy and life principles weaved beneath the blanket of development and technology
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“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking; a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.” — Carl Sagan
One of the biggest mistakes I see amongst developers is the adoption of a perspective that makes development seem nothing more than a technical tool. It’s about time that we look beyond that.
Development, diluted to its simplest concept, is a means of thinking and innovating in a way to generate value out of nothing. We often don’t think of development as relational to other fields. We don’t imagine how it connects to our truer selves and impacts our daily lives. We undervalue the power of analytical, critical, and deep thought. Unfortunately, many of us only pay attention to the technical aspects and literals that make development happen rather than the meta-skills that make a developer evolve from good to great — from depressed to fulfilled.
Therefore, it is my belief that any great programmer must first be a great thinker, problem solver, and creative. To what degree can you imagine and inspire a solution? Creativity seems scarce. Imagination is hard to conjure when all you’re thinking about are technicalities and what does what.
Technical Articles are Very Necessary, Just Not For Me
I’m not trying to say that you should avoid focusing on the playbooks of development. Technical writing is very important. They provide great insight into design principles, new ways of development, and very concrete tips and tricks that you can immediately implement.
These are great. These are very very valuable. They provide both a foundation of skill and an immediate token of growth.
But that growth only extends so far. At some point, the solutions, designs, code snippets, algorithms, and professional suggestions will only serve you partial (if any) justice. When you reach that point, no one will…
