Engineer As Hero

"3 weeks? I could have this done in 72 hours, given enough caffeine!"

-- Engineer turned CEO

Also the kind of populist movement you get around OpenSource magnates like LinusTorvalds. Or XP and KentBeck. Genius liberators, I suppose. I'm not sure how useful this is because you end up making emotional decisions like using Linux or XP without considering it nor approaching it carefully with a clean mind. Nothing wrong with either Linux or XP, just bandytowing loud enough to drown out possibly constructive dissenting views. -- SunirShah

I can sort of see the parallel to LinusTorvalds, but I'm not so sure about XP. I think EngineerAsHero is really about machismo. It's about worshiping the individual LockedInaRoom? designing his or her magnum opus, vs. a team gradually refactoring and testing their software to completion.--StuCharlton

I'm not going for parallel; I'm going for orthogonal--different definitions for the same term. In this case, the heroism isn't from self-sacrifice but from populism. As usual, heroism has both advantages and disadvantages. Thus, I'm also avoiding a moral judgment. --SunirShah

I don't mind there being heros, but I don't ever want to be one myself. Once someone thinks that you can stop speeding bullets, they tend to stand in front of loaded guns thinking that you'll always be able to stop the bullet before it perforates their pointy-haired head.