"The masters really are surprisingly few in our field."
Contrary to what some readers here might expect, most highly competent developers don't have blogs or start their own companies. Most of the talented and experienced engineers who work in the bowels of Google optimizing search algorithms, or at Boeing writing avionics software or at Oracle designing database systems pursue their craft in obscurity and anonymity. I work with master programmers every day who nobody has ever heard of.
Having been on HN for a few years, I've recognized several of the people here as being masters of their craft based on the depth of understanding and experience that's evident in the words they've written.
"In my experience most programmers have a sense of imposter syndrome..."
I think that the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which "incompetent people will tend to overestimate their own level of skill" and "fail to recognize genuine skill in others"[1] is much more prevalent in our field than impostor syndrome (the opposite phenomenon).
Being a "Programming Master" has so little to do with coding, but the ability to analyze and automate real world processes and make them interact intelligently for the benefit of the user. Solving puzzles and memorizing algorithms it's taking someones project and giving it life.
Contrary to what some readers here might expect, most highly competent developers don't have blogs or start their own companies. Most of the talented and experienced engineers who work in the bowels of Google optimizing search algorithms, or at Boeing writing avionics software or at Oracle designing database systems pursue their craft in obscurity and anonymity. I work with master programmers every day who nobody has ever heard of.
Having been on HN for a few years, I've recognized several of the people here as being masters of their craft based on the depth of understanding and experience that's evident in the words they've written.
"In my experience most programmers have a sense of imposter syndrome..."
I think that the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which "incompetent people will tend to overestimate their own level of skill" and "fail to recognize genuine skill in others"[1] is much more prevalent in our field than impostor syndrome (the opposite phenomenon).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect