That's a very non-inclusive way of thinking, and it is hard to imagine that it benefits the community as a whole. What if you substituted developers, in this situation, for doctors?
I agree with this and think it touches on a more fundamental issue with our industry; in general, developers are not viewed as professionals by their employers or eve themselves. I think many of the negative aspects of the profession can be mitigated if developers would just take a different perspective on their work like viewing themselves more as plumbers, electricians, doctors or lawyers and less as clerks.
Am I the only one to whom "developer advocate" sounds like a career path that's a bit like "dermatologist"? ...in the sense that it's people who went to medical school but didn't quite cut it as REAL doctors?
This is not unique to developers. I can say for my country (India) that every doctor "dreams" to start his own hospital. Every CA or lawyer wants to establish his/her own firm.
I see many comments here about developers upset about being treated as "just a developer."
Well, if you want to be respected as more than "just a developer," you'll need to understand more about the real world. Specifically people.
If that doesn't convince you, look at it this way: healthcare is a huge, growing, and technologically behind-the-curve industry. It offers a huge market for your services. Mental healthcare needs better solutions.
Also, I have met my share of severally mentally disturbed developers. So this could be any of us we're talking about.
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