Elite runners get to finish Marathons in less than two and half hours. The average non-professional runner is going to be grinding it out for over four hours. Who suffers more? In some ways the average runner is going through a unique hell that an elite runner never experiences.

The same is true for software. Great software developers end up with simple solutions to complex problems. The novice and average software developer creates really complex code for complex problems. To hold the simple design in your head and code is not as taxing as holding a overly creative complex solution and getting it to work perfectly. I feel sorry for the novice and average software developer who suffer because they code before the simple solution is understood. But it doesn’t end there, elites suffer when they have to go in and fix the untamed solution later because no one remembers all the secrets in the implementation.

One elite I know who had to fix some old code said after the experience:

“We should find the person who wrote that and show him a computer and tell him he is not allowed to ever touch one of these ever again.”

Categories: The art of software development