Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!weyrich!orville From: orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: What's "Average" in Software? (was Re: bridge building and discipline) Message-ID: <1991May17.112755.14611@weyrich.UUCP> Date: 17 May 91 11:27:55 GMT References: <1991May15.223719.10256@auto-trol.com> <1991May16.152429.27870@bellcore.bellcore.com> Reply-To: orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich) Organization: Weyrich Computer Consulting Lines: 35 In article <1991May16.152429.27870@bellcore.bellcore.com> duncan@ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) writes: >Alec raises, for me at least, an interesting question. What do we consider to >be the "average" in software development? Some posts seem to use "average" as >a pejorative term denoting "less than desirable." Hence, "average" managers >and programmers are depicted as "bad." "Average" implies that there is considerable room for improvement. When I teach and get course evaluations, it is implied that "average" scores are not good enough. >I tend to think of groups of people well above "average" or well below, but >have a hard time pinning down, for myself, what I consider "average." (I >have never worked for a company who thought they didn't try to hire "the best" >people. SO whjjere do all the "average" folks end up working? :-)) The "average programmer" is like the mythical "average housewife", who is 23 years old, has 1.5 children and watches 3.5 hours of soaps a day. There's no such animal. But IF you DID have an objective measure of programming skill, then by definition, half the programmers would be better than the median average and half the programmers would be worse. Not all employers use the same standard for evaluating the desirability of programmers, so it is possible that ALL employers feel that they have the "best" programmers [by their own definitions] that they can find and afford. In some cases, the best programmers may be considered to be those that can stand the straightest when they say "yes, sir!". [sarcasm -- not my definition]. -------------------------------------- ****************************** Orville R. Weyrich, Jr., Ph.D. Certified Systems Professional Internet: orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net Weyrich Computer Consulting Voice: (602) 391-0821 POB 5782, Scottsdale, AZ 85261 Fax: (602) 391-0023 (Yes! I'm available) -------------------------------------- ******************************