Titles
Titles are a tough thing to choose these days. It's so damn easy to get one that can be misunderstood.
Currently, I'm using Software Artist, but others are as possible:
- "Hacker"
- This is the title I'd like to use, really. Unfortunately, thanks to media since about 1987, when the dreaded Internet Worm came out, the word "hacker" has a quite negative meaning to common folks. In real hacker circles, the correct word to describe the negative meaning is "cracker". See my Politics page for further reference, as well as the Hacker's Wisdom page.
- "Software Artist"
-
My current favorite, because it expresses my belief that computer
programming is an art and thus requires a bunch of years with
concentrated work to master. Really, true mastership requires even
more than that.
The flip side is that some people, upon hearing this title, think one is a web designer. No offence to web designers, but this makes me go "Ick"... - "Computer Guy"
- This title is concise and comprehensible to everyone. Another one along the same line could be "Knows Computers", but that would probably enter the domain of silliness.
Others have suggested:
- "Guru"
- "Wizard"
- (possibly spelled "Wizzard" to get a perfect reference to Rincewind)
- "Reengineer"
- (this was said with an obscure reference to object orientation)
- "Procedural Epistemologist"
-
This one lies in the obscurities of a USENET News quote refering to the
SICP docs:
[...] When I first came across those fateful lines in SICP ("... computer science is not a science ... its significance has little to do with computers ... the emergence of what might best be called 'procedural epistemology'") I got so excited I almost strangled my cat. Not only a new way of looking at things, but, even better, a new and impressive-sounding title for the business card! I'm no longer a mere programmer, I'm a Procedural Epistemologist! Make that $250 an hour, please! (wishful thinking.) [...]
There are others that I might choose some time in the future, but I doubt it wold be commonly accepted:
- "Techno-hippie"
- A term I found in Technology and Pleasure, Considering Hacking Constructive, by Gisle Hannemyr.
