Zealous clarifications
David published some clarifications about his position. When the debate is recontextualized within the nebulous “culture” heading I can begin to agree with him… especially since I am currently wearing the thick-client C# developer hat but lasciviously eyeing the Rails developer sombrero. When interviewing people I like to make sure that they’re up on current trends, that they’re thinking about technology, that they’re extrapolating their own experiences into some useful cluefulness… from that perspective, sure, I agree. Using the best tools? I don’t want to devolve into an EMACS vs. vi debate, and I think that he wasn’t talking about that, either.
Maybe if I was working at a web application development shop I would be a little wary of hiring assembler programmers, and I’d definitely be wary of people who favor certain tools/platforms vs. others for purely idealogical reasons. But I think that a great dev can shine no matter what the tools, regardless of the tools, maybe even despite the tools… and that recognizing that type of person should be the end goal.
Still don’t hate the guy, but at least I’m past my kneejerk.