Developers as craftsmen

I was having a conversation with a friend recently about the different attitudes or philosophies that developers take to their work. As with any profession these attitudes vary quite a bit between individuals. I explained that I’m a fan of viewing a software engineer as a craftsman. There are a few things to take from this point of view including that we should take pride in our work, we should actively maintain and improve our skills, and that we should have a good knowledge and understanding our tools and processes.

Not too long after that conversation I was reading a blog post by ‘Uncle Bob’ Martin on