Dan Hounshell suggested that in the ASP.NET community, there are three types of people:
- Community Leaders
- Practical Experts
- Developers (i.e. everyone else)
The Community Leaders, he writes, are the people who steer the community. He names Scott Guthrie as the primary steerer. The Practical Experts are people like himself. The ones that write books, present at events, have much read blogs.
Then there are the rest of us. He just calls us "Developers," but I like the term "Developer Barbarians." The Greeks called anyone who wasn't a Greek a Barbarian. Its the "there's Us and everyone who isn't Us" type thing.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that anyone is condescending to us. And I'm certainly not saying that Dan is saying this. These are my words, not Dan's.
In fact, I like the fact that I'm a Developer Barbarian. I know enough to know that I don't know much. That is what makes me a barbarian. I aspire to move up to the "Practical Experts" level, but I'm not there yet.
I wouldn't say that I follow the community and don't study it. I do both. And I do actively seek out better ways to do things. But I'm not always in a position to follow it through to implementation. And most of the time, the "better way" that I found is something that came from the community.
One of the things that I love about software development is that I get to learn new stuff all the time. In fact, if I don't, I'll either search out new stuff to learn (if the job allows it) or I'll look for a new job. And, if time allows, I'll learn stuff on my own at home.
That's what I here to do. Learn. Because it's true. I'm a Developer Barbarian. But I don't want to stay that way.