Politics isn’t about Policy

Robin Hanson

As I start to seriously pursue becoming a developer, I’m learning that coding isn’t about code. So, why the name “Unlimited Code Works” (besides the dumb reference(to a reference))? For one, as a newbie developer it is really difficult to step out of the limits of my code. In a sense, I’m stuck inside my severely constrained programming toolkit. Of course, this will change over time. But right now, I’m doing my best to see the problems I’m solving from an outsider’s perspective. My work must always be pushing beyond the limits of the code I can presently write. It is the only way I’ll continually improve.

So, back to coding not being about code. What I mean is this: the systems that we as developers implement to support our code seem to be the majority of the work. This was one of our first lessons at Launch Academy, a 10 week intensive Ruby on Rails bootcamp. We just concluded day 3, and I continue to be blown away by the quantity of process I didn’t know that I didn’t know. I feel much like a home handicrafter, struggling to produce a small handful of low-quality goods. And now, I’ve been shown a 3D printer.