"- They're brilliant, I mean very smart people (in an almost academic way?)
- They have a big appetite for adding complexity to systems
- They also have a big appetite for adding work to their own plates
- Their code has no consistent style"
These statements contradict each other, or at the very least these people are not good engineers, even if they're smart in the sense of being able to deal with complex ideas. Good engineers do not code with an inconsistent style, nor do they add unnecessary complexity when it was avoidable, just to satisfy intellectual curiosity.
The real smarts are to be found in simple, clean, clear code with obvious lines of control. Great code can look almost 'dumb' to the 'fresh off a CS course' grad. This is the difference between cleverness and the wisdom and the good taste to know the right balance to strike in code.
- They have a big appetite for adding complexity to systems
- They also have a big appetite for adding work to their own plates
- Their code has no consistent style"
These statements contradict each other, or at the very least these people are not good engineers, even if they're smart in the sense of being able to deal with complex ideas. Good engineers do not code with an inconsistent style, nor do they add unnecessary complexity when it was avoidable, just to satisfy intellectual curiosity.
The real smarts are to be found in simple, clean, clear code with obvious lines of control. Great code can look almost 'dumb' to the 'fresh off a CS course' grad. This is the difference between cleverness and the wisdom and the good taste to know the right balance to strike in code.