Rate yourself as a C++ programmer, 1 to 10

[Greg Schmidt]

I'll make it a little easier. I'm a 10. You can rate yourself
by comparing C++ code that I've written to C++ code that you've written.

Simply seeing your code is not enough. We'd also have to know something
about how long it took you to write and debug that code (your coding
efficiency), whether this was your first or second or third time solving
the same problem (your design ability), what the original requirements
were (in-house utilities may not require the same level of robustness as
production code, and spending time putting it in "just because" may be a
waste of company resources), etc. All of these things count towards how
good a programmer you are, IMHO.

 

[Greg Schmidt]

I'd say that real C++ programmers would rate themselves on a scale of 0 thru
9.

Or maybe between 0 and UCHAR_MAX?

 

[Jonathan Turkanis]

Or maybe between 0 and UCHAR_MAX?

Logicians start counting at zero.
Algebraists and analyists start counting at 1.
Computer scientists start counting at -2147483648

Jonathan

 

[adbarnet]

Or a 3 - but it's up to them to deduce the base number system you're using.

 

[GTO]

Can I assume the following classification?

10 = C++ Guru (can walk on water while reciting out of the good book!)
1 = C++, oh, my Goddess! I have seen ;-) and :-( but what does C++ stand
for again? A bomb with a slow burning fuse perhaps?

Gregor

 

[Howard]

How would you answer a question like this in an interview? I'm not
interested
in gathering the average of folks on this forum. I'm interested in a
strategy
for
a) evaluating yourself objectively
b) actually answering the question (which might or might not involve the
anser
you came up with in a)

One of my favorite sayings:

"All programmers write perfect code. All other programmers write crap."

Or, using your 1..10 scale:

"All programmers are 10s. All other programmers are 1s."

So, I guess I'm a 10.

-H

 

[jeffc]

It depends who is asking the question. If for some ungodly reason a job
interviewer asked me the question, I would not answer it; I would dodge
it with some kind of joke. I have been asked some very funny questions
in interviews, such as if I'm able to write bad code fast and cover up
bugs in time for demos, but I've never been asked to rate myself 1-10.

I have now been asked this question 5 times.

 

[jeffc]

Just for fun, why don't you enumerate them.

I assumed one of them would be "because he doesn't want to".

 

[jeffc]

I'd say that real C++ programmers would rate themselves on a scale of 0 thru
9.

That's a good way to get the conversation started, thanks

 

[E. Robert Tisdale]

I assumed one of them would be "because he doesn't want to".

Because he can make more money teaching
or designing computer programming languages.
Because he doesn't need to write programs to make a living.
etc.