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Blast from the past: 5 worlds

5 Worlds is a Joel Spolsky classic. This article needs to be updated (it’s from 2002, when shrinkwrap software was still A Thing) but it still has a lot of wisdom and illustrates just how large the scope of work available to software developers is (even more so now that software is eating the world).

Whenever you read one of those books about programming methodologies written by a full time software development guru/consultant, you can rest assured that they are talking about internal, corporate software development. Not shrinkwrapped software, not embedded software, and certainly not games. Why? Because corporations are the people who hire these gurus. They’re paying the bill.

Note that assuming a software developer is a webdev is like assuming a lawyer is a trial attorney. Just like there’s lots of ways to practice law, there are lots of ways to build software. And, to be honest, this is probably true of every profession. If you go to a party and ask someone “what do you do” and really really listen, chances are you’ll get a startling view of the world, because everyone does something interesting.

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