Only One1️⃣ Thing is True About the Programmer Life Meme
The Programmer Life
The meme above ☝ ️features just one truth. The rest are damaging myths about programmers.
Now, you probably know that I’m a professional blogger. That means I’m going to tell you that one truth right at the beginning of the article, before laying into the range of tropes and untruths hidden within the meme.
A Truth
Look at the meme. One thing hits home and is quite unexplainable.
Why do so many programmers have this backpack?
The bag itself is the default programmer bag shape, and I’m seriously questioning why.
It is weird but isn’t anything damaging or wrong. It’s a funny observation. Hahaha. Choosing a bag is as important as choosing a Pokémon, so why is everyone choosing Pikachu?
The Damaging Elements of The Meme
This meme isn’t helpful. That’s because it contains some tropes and stereotypes that actually give programmers difficulties in their working (and less importantly) personal lives.
Programmers are Men
Perhaps the meme would work if the protagonist wasn’t a white man.
Some might say that it doesn’t matter how we represent programmers and software engineers in the media. Some might say it’s correct, as most software developer are male.
Software developer gender distribution worldwide as of 2022:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1126823/worldwide-developer-gender/
Unfortunately, we have a diversity problem in tech. When the trope of the lonely single white male programmer is continually recycled, we make it harder for a more diverse workforce to break through (and reap the benefits of doing so) as interviewers expect a cliché to turn up in the interview room and are surprised if a *gasp* person of color arrives or a *shock* woman appears.
It’s got to change. This meme, although fun, isn’t helping.
Programmers are Young and Single
I think most programmers think single threaded programming is somewhat easier than multi-threading. Sometimes you want pizza, but they want pasta? That’s a recipe for spaghetti code.
Haha. Right? Now I’m tempted to turn this into a discussion about pair programming, and you can use a romantic partner to bounce around technical ideas, but I don’t want to do that.
This changed a long time ago. Seventy-one percent of developers are married, while only three percent are divorced. Doesn’t match the image of a lonely nerd sitting on their machine, does it?
Programmers are Dull
I’m reading the meme as saying software developers go to the cinema on their own.
Since they’re married, does this make sense? Equally going to a solitary activity like the cinema alone shouldn’t be a cause of derision as it makes total sense — don’t want to take your partner to a screening they wouldn’t like, simply go to different movies.
Also, sleeping alone isn’t a bad thing. Why would it be?
Why it’s Damaging
I used to work for a consultancy firm. The PO would talk down to the software engineer during meetings.
She would then express to me that they were *weird* and didn’t have good *social skills*.
The software developer didn’t do anything weird during meetings (referenced Monty Python) and just did their job. They had around 20 years of experience against the PO’s 3 years too.
The point is the PO felt able to behave like this and express these opinions around the office. It wasn’t good, it isn’t good, and I believe some of the “permission” to do such things comes from ideas put about in the meme above. Stop it, please.
Conclusion
I’d love to lighten up. I’d love to let it go.
However, people are using these tropes to rag on software developers. That isn’t good for us, it’s not good for teamwork. So, let’s stop it, please. Thank you.