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You're Not a Programmer Until...

I originally posted this post on my blog. These days, I found a post claiming you're not a senior software engineer until you work on a legacy app. It made me think when we can call ourselves programmers. Mmmm? So, you're not a programmer until: You write a to-do app or a recipe catalog You google how to become a better coder You have an interview with a clueless recruiter You copy and paste a code block from StackOverflow You take down a database server with a bad written query You read the Clean Code and want to rewrite all code around you You debug using Console.WriteLine or console.log or printf statements You get a PM asking you how you're doing more than once a day You google your error message and find an open GitHub issue You delete a database table with a DELETE without WHERE You argue about a variable name during a code review You write a class Person or Shape when learning OOP You code a calculator app using JavaScript You work on a full rewrite of a legacy app You google how to center a div I asked some of my friends and ex-coworkers to complete that sentence. And here's what they told me. You're not a programmer until... You write your first "Hello, world" program You stay awake until 3AM solving a coding issue You're fixing an issue, it works and you don't know why Your code works on your machine, but not in Production You get a compilation error on line 123 on a 40-line code file You deploy a hotfix to Production at 17:55 (and you clock out at 18:00) What would you add to the list? When did you know you were a programmer? Leave your comment! Join my email list and get a 2-minute email with curated resources about programming and software engineering every Friday. Don't miss out next Friday email.

Mar 24, 2025 - 06:22

I originally posted this post on my blog.

These days, I found a post claiming you're not a senior software engineer until you work on a legacy app.

It made me think when we can call ourselves programmers. Mmmm?

So, you're not a programmer until:

You write a to-do app or a recipe catalog
You google how to become a better coder
You have an interview with a clueless recruiter
You copy and paste a code block from StackOverflow
You take down a database server with a bad written query
You read the Clean Code and want to rewrite all code around you
You debug using Console.WriteLine or console.log or printf statements
You get a PM asking you how you're doing more than once a day
You google your error message and find an open GitHub issue
You delete a database table with a DELETE without WHERE
You argue about a variable name during a code review
You write a class Person or Shape when learning OOP
You code a calculator app using JavaScript
You work on a full rewrite of a legacy app
You google how to center a div

I asked some of my friends and ex-coworkers to complete that sentence. And here's what they told me.

You're not a programmer until...

You write your first "Hello, world" program
You stay awake until 3AM solving a coding issue
You're fixing an issue, it works and you don't know why
Your code works on your machine, but not in Production
You get a compilation error on line 123 on a 40-line code file
You deploy a hotfix to Production at 17:55 (and you clock out at 18:00)

What would you add to the list? When did you know you were a programmer? Leave your comment!

Join my email list and get a 2-minute email with curated resources about programming and software engineering every Friday. Don't miss out next Friday email.