There seems to be no way out of this paradox—the better job a programming language does for the special purpose for which it was designed, the more limiting it is on the minds of those who use it, if they are faced with potentially new areas of application.

— Gerald Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming

Good programmers are a little bit lazy: they sit back and wait for an insight rather than rushing forward with their first idea. That must, of course, be balanced with the initiative to code at the proper time. The real skill, though, is knowing the proper time. That judgment comes only with the experience of solving problems and reflecting on their solutions.

— Jon Bentley, Programming Pearls

Despite their best efforts to eliminate the need for programmers, that need has only increased and diversified. And now, they think the solution will be AI. But, trust me, the outcome will be the same. With greater power, the need for and stature of programmers can only increase.

— Robert C. Martin, We, Programmers

In today’s world, the ability to solve complicated problems has been devalued into the commonplace. It’s what you’re expected to do when you come to the workplace.

— David Komlos and David Benjamin, Cracking Complexity

Is software development really hard, or are software developers not that good at it? Certainly there are parts of software that are hard, but software developers seem to do everything in their power to make even the easy parts harder by wasting an inordinate amount of time on reinvention and inefficient approaches.

— Adam Barr, The Problem With Software