Hmm... I think not being a chump requires the ability to stop and reflect on the situation.
We are in an industry obsessed with "ninjas" and "rockstars". The same author who wrote this article bashing long hours has articles about how grades and good knowledge of math are all-important on his site. But these long hours and near-perfect grades really are just a way to compete.
So we are in this cutthroat competition. Understanding math you are unlikely to use in real work is a status marker. So are grades. Are they just that? No, just like a shiny BMW is also a good car. But competition in any well-paid career eventually becomes unsustainable (or close to it). Doctors and lawyers are already there, but their fields had more time to get to that point.
There's probably enough bad code out there, and plenty of sweatshops, so the data's already there for the analyzing :)
The catch is, who's going to do it? The ones who are creating the bugs are too busy creating the bugs, and the folks who just get their job done and go on with their lives probably don't care. :)
We are in an industry obsessed with "ninjas" and "rockstars". The same author who wrote this article bashing long hours has articles about how grades and good knowledge of math are all-important on his site. But these long hours and near-perfect grades really are just a way to compete.
So we are in this cutthroat competition. Understanding math you are unlikely to use in real work is a status marker. So are grades. Are they just that? No, just like a shiny BMW is also a good car. But competition in any well-paid career eventually becomes unsustainable (or close to it). Doctors and lawyers are already there, but their fields had more time to get to that point.