A case for the mediocre developer

Software engineers today face a lot of difficulties in their jobs. The available toolset increases on a seemingly monthly basis. New frameworks are in, old frameworks are legacy.

What was previously a job that could be specialized in across a few well-understood components is now spread out amongst large swaths of libraries, abstraction and infrastructure. This is the power of open-source, but also its curse. The fact that complexity is increasing around us is a trite argument.

Due to this ongoing shift, it’s easier than ever to start developing but harder than ever to become proficient in it.

In light of this, it’s time that we start celebrating and adapting to the mediocre developer.

The mediocre developer is someone who is not highly proficient in every used technology or service, but still wants to have a working development environment in the click of a button. Someone who doesn’t remember the framework by heart, but knows how to find the standardized documentation. Someone who doesn’t understand the idiosyncrasies of the continuous integration and production cluster, but still wants to provide a meaningful contribution at the end of the day.

By helping the mediocre developer succeed, we not only help our business in the long run, but also foster a positive atmosphere of inclusion and cooperation.

And maybe one day we will also find ourselves on the doorstep of a new job, and we’ll realize that we are the mediocre developer.

Photo by David Matos on Unsplash