The right title should be: The rise of the brogrammer in media.<p>The thing is there's a huge difference between the perception that people have of a field and what happens in the field. It reminds me of how CSI (the show) shows police work: super high tech. solving of cases. Sorry to break it, it's not the case, it's long interviews with people and little lab work with overused equipment. In the same spirit slowly since the Social Network this notion of "cool programmer" has emerged in the media. The reality is that we're still very far from it, and it's mostly guys sitting in front of desks typing on keyboards (not so sexy, uh ?).<p>Anyway, this article is ridiculous, but I don't trust CNN anymore to provide accurate news. Let them read tweets live, that's their line of work now.
I'm getting kind of sick of this media brogrammer fest. Some guys are sexist. Some aren't. Some program. Some don't. Can we please just focus on the main issue? Sexism in the workplace. Really, what does this have to do with programming <i>at all</i>?<p>There's no "rise" of anything, except idiots who get big heads because they got 2M in funding...and that's nothing new. The more attention we give them, the bigger their heads get. As many get embarrassed by being called out, there are just as many who would wear it as a badge of honor.<p>All the programmers I know are great guys who treat women with respect and just want to focus on their work instead of having subservient big breasted bimbos prancing around their office.<p>There's no epidemic here except bored journalists.
Most of the hype about this is that it plays against type - "you thought programmers were shy neckbearded nerds? Ha! In reality they are hard drinking, hard caffeinating, woman disrespecting fratboys!"<p>Both are stereotypes (with some basis in reality here and there). But of course it makes a good story for the mainstream media. <sigh>
The whole "They used to be nerds and social misfits, but not anymore!" is really old. It seems memories are short in the media.<p>"Geek is the new Chic" - USA Today, October 2003
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-10-22-geek-chic_x.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-10-22-geek-chic_x.htm</a><p>"The new Worker Elite" - Ad Age, November 1997
<a href="http://www.qualitydigest.com/nov97/html/qualtech.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.qualitydigest.com/nov97/html/qualtech.html</a>
I find this to be one of the silliest quotes in the article:<p>"Forget what you think you know about the benignly geeky computer programmer who lives for the thrill of finding a single misplaced semicolon in thousands of lines of code."<p>For as long as I've been programming, the art has been about more than syntax. Although, while teaching new programmers, I find one of the biggest barriers learning to program is getting stuck on syntax, and trying to memorize every little syntactical detail. Better to focus on how to create an algorithm.<p>Perhaps that's why the writer of this article went into journalism rather than programming.
This article seems to just be a lazy rehashing of the Mother Jones story www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/silicon-valley-brogrammer-culture-sexist-sxsw They mention the exact same examples ('bro down and crush' & bikini shots) even. I'll admit, I didn't read the whole thing. I'm waiting for the NPR Morning Edition rehashing, complete with a chuckling Steve Inskeep. :)
Should we stay in the background forever, and let the marketing people dictate the future of tech, or make some serious attempt to drive tech into another direction?<p>At some point you have to get people's attention - once that happens, maybe we can see improvement. Until then, brogramming just makes assclowns easier to spot.
<i>"Now, I'm hearing people talk about being concerned about the number of quote-unquote 'idea people' flooding the field."</i><p>I'm not concerned at all. Ideas are just that: vapor. Show me a concrete implementation. Someone has to actually build that.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always thought the "brogrammer" stereotype stemmed from a rise of people within the tech industry that broke the classical notion of a software geek. Individuals whom were excellent software engineers, yet whose life did not revolve around a glowing computer screen; and had other hobbies like surfing, biking, etc.<p>Anyway, the article on CNN is quite funny, but I'm slightly saddened in that there are people who will read this and honestly believe that this is a real problem.
While this is (from my experience) incredibly inaccurate of the programming community at large. My fear is that it will encourage a perception of people looking for a career to embrace this stereotype. People who read this article may think "This is awesome, I definitely want to do this!" and a new wave of people who think that "brogramming" is the norm will begin to seep into the industry. Maybe the numbers will not be that much and it will allow a more diverse culture.
><i>Rise of the Brogrammer (cnn.com)</i><p>"Rise of another idiotic idea that applies to less of 0.1% of the population of programmers, but makes for a nice headlines (or the idiots at media outlets thing so".<p>Here, I fixed it for CNN.
I just read this article. It's awesome. Yeah there are definitely problems with the industry. I wonder, though, if some of the things mentioned (like the frathouse like atmosphere) is a sort of response to the 'geekiness' associated with programming. [Not that that in any way justifies sexism or boozing at work, etc]