Being Technical

By Dan Kaplan • August 03, 2020

Many folks think being technical is being able to write code. I think being technical is more about understanding the power of code. It's about the ability to harmonize disparate things to solve age-old problems. Writing code is just the multiplier.

This can be illustrated like this*:

AWFUL CODE = -1
WEAK CODE = 1
SO-SO CODE = 5
GOOD CODE = 10
GREAT CODE = 15
BRILLIANT CODE = 20
------------------
NO HARMONY = $1
WEAK HARMONY = $1,000
SO-SO HARMONY = $10,000
GOOD HARMONY = $100,000
GREAT HARMONY = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT HARMONY = $10,000,000

Being a Technologist is about multiplying the two.

Harmony is more important than the code, much harder to accomplish and much harder to judge. It is also beautiful. Harmony makes writing code and being a technologist a true art.

* I stole this concept from Derek Sivers from his thoughts on ideas vs execution.