I have never been comfortable labeling myself a rockstar or ninja developer. Instead, I consider myself to be a sled dog developer.
The "rockstar ninja guru" epithets have a "lone hero" connotation for me, so I am happy to hear that that meme is worn out. The best developers are team players. Even when developers are "a team of one", they are still building with and on the works of others (languages, frameworks, libraries, OSes) and contributing back via Open Source software, email lists, knowledge bases, Q&A sites, blogging, etc.
There are two main qualities that are expected in sled dogs: endurance and speed.1 Sled dogs live to run the trail. They love to do Important ThingsTM like saving lives in a Great Race of Mercy, but they are just as happy running the Iditarod race.
Sled dogs work as teams. There is a lead dog, of course, but also point dogs, swing dogs, and the powerful wheel dogs filling out the team. These have different personalities and strengths, working together to make a team better than the individual components.
To a good sled dog, the worst thing in the world is not working hard, it is not running fast. What breaks his heart is being locked in a kennel and fed dog food.
[1] Sled dogs (Wikipedia)
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That's a great metaphor, Jerry. (Of course, I'd shared my life with Siberian huskies since 1987, so maybe I'm biased.)
ReplyDeleteHuskies staked out, held back, and kept down howl and bark and generally raise a ruckus from frustration. No single Siberian gets much done. Huskies are so happy on task that they crap on the run. They eat seal blubber and sleep in the snow. (oops, I think I've run out of metaphor...)