The Best Programmer I Know • Daniel Terhorst-North • GOTO 2024

Daniel Terhorst-North shares stories and traits of exceptional software developers, focusing on simplicity, empathy, and lifting up others.

This presentation was recorded at GOTO Amsterdam 2024. #GOTOcon #GOTOams gotoams.nl Daniel Terhorst-North - Originator of Behavior Driven Development (BDD) & Principal at Dan North & Associates @daniel-terhorst-north RESOURCES bsky.app/profile/tastapod.com linkedin.com/in/tastapod github.com/tastapod mastodon.social/@tastapod dannorth.net/blog ABSTRACT I believe great programmers are not born, they are made. Or rather, they make themselves, carefully and deliberately over time. I am not talking about the folks who rote-learn the l33t answers and throw their egos around; I mean the ones who build great products using simple, understandable code, while lifting up those around them. I have worked with some great programmers over the years, and met some others along the way. I want to tell you about the best programmer I know. As I have said elsewhere, they have “an insatiable curiosity and the belief they can convince a computer to do anything. Plus a healthy disregard for language and tool zealotry.” As I describe them, you might recognise some of their traits in yourself; you might decide you want to aspire to some of them; you might choose to refer to them as an interviewer, or as a candidate. My hope is simply that you find them useful and in some way inspiring. [...] TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:41 Part 1: Getting the job done 20:02 Part 2: Choosing the right tool 35:17 Part 3: Caring about the team 47:25 Wrapping up 48:10 Outro Download slides and read the full abstract here: gotoams.nl/2024/sessions/3132 RECOMMENDED BOOKS Eliyahu M. Goldratt • Beyond the Goal • amzn.to/3wDbAL1 Kent Beck, Fowler, John, William, Don & Gamma • Refactoring • amzn.to/3SFBYbN Kent Beck & Cynthia Andres • Extreme Programming Explained • amzn.to/3KeL5P5 Jez Humble & Dave Farley • Continuous Delivery • amzn.to/3ocIHwd Robert B Cialdini • Influence, New and Expanded • amzn.to/3tL8GxB Aino Vonge Corry • Retrospective Antipatterns • amzn.to/3naFk84 Subramaniam & Hunt • Practices of an Agile Developer • amzn.to/2XjbWor bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com twitter.com/GOTOcon linkedin.com/company/goto- instagram.com/goto_con facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Programming #SoftwareEngineering #Polyglot #BuildTheRightProduct #BestProgrammers #GreatestProgrammers #Team #TechTeam #DanNorth #DanielTerhorstNorth CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1