2009/6/12 Srijayanth Sridhar <<a href="mailto:srijayanth@gmail.com">srijayanth@gmail.com</a>>:<br>> I don't doubt that its a global phenomenon, however, I am still curious<br>> about the reasons for its prevalence out here.<br>
<br>I will add my little theory to this discussion.<br><br>If you are from a middle class background with no appetite for entrepreneurial risk, but want a better life than your parents did, there are few professional career options.<br>
<br>Doctor? Architect? Lawyer? They require dedicating a serious chunk of your life and are one-way streets. But programmer... excuse me, software developer? By gosh, a big company will make a software developer out of anyone in just three months, plus you get to go abroad and settle down. If it doesn't work, no big deal. You didn't invest five years and half your parents' savings to realise that.<br>
<br>Ergo, we get a lot of people trying out to be programmers but not entirely sure this is what they want, and bringing in that one key habit that got them through life: when you need to know something, ask someone.<br><br>
You have a leak in your bathroom and need a plumber? Ask someone if they know a good plumber! Whoever heard of the yellow pages?<br><br>And the same thing online. Need help? Ask someone! They say there are these things called mailing lists where knowledgeable people hang out? Go there and ask someone!<br>
<br>Does this mean they are mindless? No. It means they simply haven't had the incentive to understand how this stuff works. They are not trying to be good programmers. They're trying to have good careers with respect to the visible hierarchy around them.<br>
<br>Someone actually had the same problem and the answer is recorded in web pages, which one can discover by typing key phrases into a search engine? Gee, what a novel concept! Whoever knew search engines could be used for anything more than popular keywords?<br>
<br><br>-- <br>Kiran Jonnalagadda<br><a href="http://jace.zaiki.in/">http://jace.zaiki.in/</a><br><br>