Hackers and Painters

(Via Adam) Hackers and Painters and some of the other essays by Paul Graham are definitely a good read.

Reading the essay, I was reminded of an interview for a position in another group in the IT department at The New England as a Lead Programmer Analyst, sometime back around '83. IIRC, it was a two level jump for me at the time. The manager of the group offering the position asked me: "What makes a good program?". I responded: "It's beautiful". She was dumbstruck. "What on earth does that mean?!", she asked. I tried to explain, but to no avail.

Needless to say, I wasn't offered the job. She simply had no clue.