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blog.notryan.com/011.txt                                       Wed, 06 May 2020
Ryan Jacobs                                                      06:06:12 -0700
                               I am a Programmer
                               . . . . . . . . . 
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"What does Uncle Jim do for work again?"

"He's a software engineer."

"What's that?"

"He writes code for computers. He instructs them to do all sorts of things:
to open files and crunch numbers and notify people. The industry calls it
'soft'-ware because it's malleable. Someone has to write down the words, but
they can go back and change them if they want to."

"Oh, so he writes his 'soft'-ware by programming computers? I see. Isn't that
just a programmer? Jack said his dad was a programmer."

"No, no, no, Uncle Jim is _software engineer_. It's different. It's like
comparing a car mechanic to an automotive engineer."

"Oh okay, I think I'm getting it... Can you explain exactly what makes
a software engineer different from a programmer?"

"Sure, a software engineer _thinks_ about their code. They plan everything
out. They consider the edge cases. They anticipate load. They ensure backwards
compatibility. They plan ahead."

"Oh, so a software engineer is just a good programmer."

"Yes, something like that."

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I am a programmer.

I am not a code crafter, a pixel pusher, or a thought weaver. Call me what I
am: a programmer. What's wrong with calling ourselves that? Why do we need
to be called architects and developers? I'd like to put programmer on my 
resume. Just a thought.

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Also fyi, I'm going to calm down my posting... I'm just really excited about
how well my new blogging system is working. HTTP and RSS from scratch :)
I will probably post around once a week with some substanial content.

Some topics to look forward to:
  * A review on Void Linux
  * KVM live migrations, failover versus takeover
  * DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) tutorial
  * A look on containers versus virtual machines, and how sometimes VMs are
    wayyyy better
  * My plans to offer uber-cheap $1/month publicly-reachable VPS systems to
    the public

-- Ryan