The Eight Levels of Programmers，程序员的8中境界

Have you ever gotten that classic job interview question,"where do you see yourself in five years?"When asked, I'm always mentally transported back toa certain Twisted Sister video from 1984.

I want you to tell me -- no, better yet, stand up andtell the class--

what do you wanna do with your life?

You want to rock, naturally! Or at least be arockstar programmer. It's not a question that typically gets a serious answer -- sort of like that other old groan-inducing interview chestnut, "what's your greatest weakness?" It's that you sometimes rocktoo hard, right? Innocent bystanders could get hurt.

But I think this is a different and more serious class of question, one that deserves real consideration. Not for the interviewer's benefit, but for yourownbenefit.

The "where do you see yourself in five years" question is sort of glib, and most people have a pat answer they give to interviewers. But it does raise some deeper concerns: whatisthe potential career path for a software developer? Sure,we do this stuff because we love it, and we'revery fortunate in that regard. But will you be sitting in front of your computer programming when you're 50? When you're 60? What is the best possible career outcome for a programmer who aspires to be.. well, a programmer?

What if I told you, withtongue firmly planted in cheek, that there wereEight Levels of Programmers?

1. Dead Programmer

   This is the highest level. Your code has survived and transcended your death. You are a part of the permanent historical record of computing. Other programmers study your work and writing. You may have won a Turing Award, or written influential papers, or invented one or more pieces of fundamental technology that have affected the course of programming as we know it. You don't just have a wikipedia entry -- there are entire websites dedicated to studying your life and work.

   Very few programmers ever achieve this level in their own lifetimes.

   Examples:Dijkstra,Knuth,Kay

2. Successful Programmer

   Programmers who are both well known and have created entire businesses -- perhaps even whole industries -- around their code. These programmers have given themselvesthe real freedom zero: the freedom to decide for themselves what they want to work on. And to share that freedom with their fellow programmers.

   This is the level to which most programmers should aspire. Getting to this level often depends more on business skills than programming.

   Examples:Gates,Carmack,DHH

3. Famous Programmer

   This is also a good place to be, but not unless you also have a day job.

   You're famous in programming circles. But being famous doesn't necessarily mean you can turn a profit and support yourself. Famous is good, butsuccessfulis better. You probably work for a large, well known technology company, an influential small company, or you're a part of a modest startup team. Either way, other programmers have heard of you, and you're having a positive impact on the field.

4. Working Programmer

   You have a successful career as a software developer. Your skills are always in demand and you never have to look very long or hard to find a great job. Your peers respect you. Every company you work with is improved and enriched in some way by your presence.

   But where do you go from there?

5. Average Programmer

   At this level you are a good enough programmer to realize that you're not agreatprogrammer. And you might never be.

   Talent often has little do do with success. You can be very successful if you have business and people skills. If you are an average programmer but manage to make a living at it then youaretalented, just not necessarily at coding.

   Don't knock the value of self-awareness. It's more rare than you realize. There's nothing wrong with lacking talent. Be bold. Figure out what you're good at, and pursue it. Aggressively.

6. Amateur Programmer

   An amateur programmer loves to code, and it shows: they might be a promising student or intern, or perhaps they're contributing to open source projects, or building interesting "just for fun" applications or websites in their spare time. Their code and ideas show promise and enthusiasm.

   Being an amateur is a good thing; from this level one can rapidly rise to become a working programmer.

7. Unknown Programmer

   The proverbial typical programmer. Joe Coder. Competent (usually) but unremarkable. Probably works for a large, anonymous MegaCorp. It's just a job, not their entire life. Nothing wrong with that, either.

8. Bad Programmer

   People who somehow fell into the programmer role without an iota of skill or ability. Everything they touchturns into pain and sufferingfor their fellow programmers -- with the possible exception ofotherBad Programmers, who lack even the rudimentary skill required to tell that they're working with another Bad Programmer.

   Which is, perhaps, the hallmark of all Bad Programmers. These people have no business writing code of any kind -- but they do, anyway.

These levels aren't entirely serious. Not every programmer aspires to the same things in their career. But it's illuminating to consider what a programmercouldaccomplish in ten years, twenty years, or thirty years -- perhaps even a lifetime. Whichnotable programmersdo you admire the most? What did they accomplish to earn your admiration?

原文网址http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/04/the-eight-levels-of-programmers.html

呵呵，看看翻译吧。

在面试时，你可能会被经常问到“在未来5年，你想干什么？”，这可能是一个比较难回答的问题。在中国，答案一般可能会是Team leader，Manager，或是Architect，Specialist等，在中国，大家可能更多地觉得manager会是程序员的下一个目标，可是在国外，经理和程序员可能是两个不同的分支，Architect或Specialist 比经理来说更牛、代遇可能也更好，因为这些人的智商需要的更高。

在著名的“Coding Horror”上出现了这样一篇文章，我把其转到这里（我并没有完全一模一样的翻译，我只不过是用自己的话转述罢了），也让大家看看国外人的思考方式（当然，这篇文章只是分析程序员的级别而不是工种）。正如其作者结尾时所说，这八个级别并不是很严格的，其只不过是一种想法，希望能给大家另一种思路。

第八级 不朽的程序员

这一级别是程序员的最高级别。你的代码比你的生命活的还长，当你死后，你将会成为整个历史的一部分。其它程序员对你顶礼膜拜，或许你会获得计算机最高奖“图灵奖”，不然就是一系列极其影响力的论文，再不然，就是发明了一些可以影影响整个编程界根基的技术。你拥有的不仅仅是在维基百科上的一个词条，还会有一个专门的网站来研究你的生平和你的工作成果。

比如：Dijkstra,Knuth（编程艺术的作者）,Kay

第七级 成功的程序员

这类程序员一方面很著名，另一方面在商业上也很成功，他们影响了整个工业界。他们似乎决定了工业界中发展的方向，这些人，自己的编程能力固然了得，但估计他们的Business方面的能力应该大于他们编程的能力。（我个人认为Linus应该属于这一类）

比如：Gates（比尔盖茨）,Carmack（Doom和Quake 3D游戏）,DHH（Ruby on Rail的创建者）

第六级 著名程序员

这一类的程序员，在编程圈子内比较有名气，但是他们的这种名气并不一定能给他们带来某种利益。名气是一件好事，但是成功可能更好一些，这类人一般正在给一个很著名的大的公司，或是是一极具影响力的小公司里工作，或者正在创建自己的事业。无论怎么样，其它的程序员听说过你的名字，并以你为榜样在效仿着你。

第五级 骨干程序员

这类程序员一般来说都是公司里的骨干份子，他们担任着公司内最重要的编程角色，在公司内部，他们受到老板和其它程序员的尊敬，他们不会失业，因为他们随时都可以很容易地找到工作。他们工作过的公司都会因为他们而有所发展。

第四级 一般的程序员

这类程序员的优点在于，他们很清楚地意识到了自己可能这一辈了也无法成为一个伟大的程序员。天才只是很少的一部分人。如果这类程序员有一些商业和人员管理能力，他们也会在公司里相当的成功。“认识自我”并不简单，这并不是一般人能做到的，能够认识自己的人已经是很不错了，找到自己的长处，并像那个方向努力，一定也会很成功的。因为在公司里，并不只有程序员一种职位，经理，PM，流程，SQA，技术支持，售前，管理员，测试人员等等都可能会让这类程序员有更为广阔的天空。

第三级 业余的程序员

这类人员不管是不是计算机科班出身，基础如何，他们对编程有着特殊的爱好，他们可能会是一些很有前途的学生或实习生，也许他们可能会给开源做一些贡献（比如说提供一些语言包或是一些插件什么的），有时候，他们也会写两个小工具软件放在网上让人下载，也行有些时候就是为了玩玩而开发一些小程序而打发一下他们空闲的时间。他们完全是靠热情和承诺来编程。兴趣永远是最好的老师，也是最好的一件事，因为兴趣而引发的热情通常会让这些程序员成为“骨干程序员”。

第二级 不知名的程序员

这一级的程序员是典型的为大众所知的程序员，他们有一定的编程能力，但并不出众，也许他们会在一家大公司里工作，只程序员只不过是他们的工作而已，并不是他们人生的全部。当然，这样的程序员也挺好的。必竟，平凡地人还是大多数，平凡地活着也没有什么错的。

第一级 糟糕的程序员

这类程序员不知道为什么就走上了编程这条路，他们甚至连最基本的编程经验和能力都没有。所有被他们碰过的事情都需要他们的同事重头再返工一遍，他们根本不就是程序员。程序员这个职位对于他们可能就是一个错误。

正如原文作者所说，“这些级别并不是很严肃的，也并不是每个程序都会去思考一下自己的未来，但是这些级别可能会让你去想一想从事程序员十年/二十年/三十年后，自己可能变成什么样。”

翻译摘自网上http://coolshell.cn/?p=343