Everyone talks about ā€œrockstar developers.ā€ And sure you might need some of those but not many.

Usually, you’re looking for the software equivalent of the session or studio musician. The folks who can turn out amazing stuff in varying styles, but can do it all the time, on demand, consistently. They’re not going to have design philosophies, or manifestos, or lofty-sounding stuff in their bios.

They’re going to have code, and a long list of folks who say ā€œthis engineer, you want them. Really.ā€

@ctp I have always maintained that a team of people who know their shit, are reliable, polite, and supportive, even if they aren’t the ā€œbest of the bestā€ will clean the fucking clocks of a team full of hyper-individualistic superstars.

It’s like baseball. If I have 9 people who consistently get singles and have solid fielding, I’m going to win a lot of games without even needing a single home run hit. Won’t be as OMG, but that record will do all the work the press won’t.

@bynkii @ctp I love both the studio musician analogy and the Moneyball analogy. As it happens, I've been thinking about the latter, but the former hadn't occurred to me.

@cocoadog @ctp one of the biggest reasons Led Zeppelin was as versatile a band as they were was that both Page and Jones had been studio musicians for years, so in a given day, they had to move between multiple musical styles.

Range is *critical* to success. a lot of breadth with just enough depth helps you be amazing.

@ctp this, but for science as well.
@ctp I’ve had this mindset ever since I started doing agency work. This describes that to a T.
@ctp yep I’m more of a Pip than a Gladys

@ctp Overall I agree. I think some folks’ definition of ā€œrockstar developerā€ may differ, though. Personally, I’m OK with strong (well-informed) opinions/philosophies, as long as the engineer is capable of being pragmatic and compromising in the face of constraints.

I wouldn’t call anyone a ā€œrockstarā€ that isn’t capable of working effectively with a team. Most of those folks I just call ā€œassholes.ā€

LB: self-deprecating self goes, yeah, I'm not that good a musician.

Because I'm not a musician. I'm a developer. Who knows they produce stuff in varying styles, all the time, on demand, consistently. And has been told it's amazing. (As in, asks manager in AMA what the succession plan is for me, to be told there isn't one "Because you're too damn good at what you do.")

I don't know if there's a long list of folks who'd say you'd want me as an engineer. But I do know it's not empty.

Not sure if knowing all that helps me or not.

@ctp @jeff I’ve always said I’m like Crash Davis from Bull Durham. I’ve been to the show but now I help bring along younger developers.

@fahrni @ctp @jeff I’m channeling Holger Czukay out of Can.

In all seriousness ā€œrockstar developerā€ is a red flag, and I was hoping that the only people who still talked about them were recruiters.

Having consideration to your team’s personality mix, with software and musical groups alike, is absolutely a good plan. Here’s Meredith Belbin.

@ctp but but… we can all be rockstars! https://codewithrockstar.com/
Rockstar

Rockstar is an esoteric programming language based on the ā€˜lyrical conventions of 1980s hard rock songs and power ballads.’. It was created by Dylan Beattie in 2018.

Rockstar
@ctp with the rock star developers, they were mostly poor at teamwork. I used to worry about them being hit by a bus: leaving the rest of us to try and understand their code …
@ctp @sabik I'm a solid bass: I'm not a virtuoso. most folks don't think much of the stuff I do. it's usually not the most technical part. that said, when I play/sing well the whole ensemble sounds better. put a weak player on the part and the whole band will sound shrill and struggle with intonation. so at length people learn to like having me on bass
@renice @ctp @sabik As a bass player, I approve this message!
@ctp Everyone would do better with 10 1x engineers!
https://1x.engineer/
1x Engineer

The official website of 1x Engineers around the world.

1x Engineer
@ctp More Carol Kaye, less Gene Simmons.
@ctp when it comes to software, I’m more of a roadie than a rockstar, doing the work behind the scenes

@ctp I was a manager for some developers for a while, and when it came time to do reviews, I had some concerns about one developer and took them to my manager.

"I don't know what to do about X," I said, "because they're totally reliable, their code never has bugs in it, but it takes them three times longer than anyone else to complete tickets, and they don't really have any drive to improve."

And of course the answer, which seems obvious in retrospect, was "figure out what we can do to make them happy because we could use someone like that on every project."

@ctp @brentley Good to see you on here, Chris! Long time no talk. Appreciate the words that ring true.
@ctp "Rockstar Developer" seems to be an official job title in another subsidiary (joint venture) of our group...
@ctp
Yes, this. In more than 35 years in tech I’ve written code for purpose in more than 15 programming languages, not counting assembly languages, and if you ask me to do a project in a language I don’t know I’ll just include learning time in the schedule. There’s no perfect language, editor, OS, or methodology, so leave me out of the religious wars.
@ctp @michelle I think no one should be considered a Rockstar Developerā„¢ until they’ve trashed at least three hotel rooms.
@ctp the problem is you end up with a single 10x engineer surrounded by a bunch of 0.01x engineers- this is happening right now on work chat… (10x is ooo)
@ctp highly skilled, compliant drones are great. Rarely ask questions about the purpose or unintended consequences of what they’re doing.
@ctp @tonyarnold And they are virtually unknown except to people in the industry
@ctp You want someone with a project list that is long and widespread, showing their skillset to be varied and adaptable.
@ctp yeah it’s the difference between hiting someone broad and adaptable vs highly specialized. know what type you need

@ctp this looks like the same line as "Be Glue":

https://noidea.dog/glue

> Every senior person in an organisation should be aware of the less glamorous - and often less-promotable - work that needs to happen to make a team successful. Managed deliberately, glue work demonstrates and builds strong technical leadership skills. Left unconscious, it can be career limiting. It can push people into less technical roles and even out of the industry.

Being Glue — No Idea Blog

Slides and notes for the Being Glue talk.

No Idea Blog