from Hacker News

Ask HN: Have you seen a mediocre, stagnant developer become a “rockstar”?

by ccajas on 12/11/18, 11:17 PM with 3 comments

If it's a programmer that started out okay but then stagnated for a long while, and then through some visible changes has recovered from stagnation and built a good reputation whose experience meet the expectations.

Whether it's a co-worker you've had over the years or a peer that you've talked to and seen grown pretty well in experience, jobs, and reputation. What was your experience with them like? How did they improve?

  • by PhilWright on 12/12/18, 1:30 AM

    There are relatively few 'rockstars' that perform at that level in every position throughout their whole career. I have seen people struggle at a company because they do not seem to fit into the culture/dev processes/hierarchy that are excellent performers at another company when everything gels for them. And also visa versa.

    I think half of your performance is not your technical ability but the environment you are in and how it suites you. Some like a free wheeling, high pressure small company feel. Others prefer a structured large company where they have a well defined set of tasks. Some developer take a few years to figure out which is best for them.

  • by smt88 on 12/12/18, 12:51 AM

    I’ve seen many mediocre, stagnant devs become rockstars. They switched fields to something they enjoyed more and was better suited to them.

    Having a background in programming is helpful in lots of non-programming career tracks.