Full Name:
Gerald Jay Sussmann
Email Address:
gjs@csail.mit.edu
This message is perhaps one of the strangest pieces of email you will ever receive.
Although it is tempting to hire a "talented developer", in fact, it is a very bad idea. Unlike most of human society, computer science and software engineering are based on the idea that each of us is capable of evaluating expressions and thinking on our own. Each of us can do experiments, work out the reasoning, and determine the code for ourselves. There is no room in computer science or engineering for "talented developers" representing group approval over individual thought. One of my heros, Galileo, put it very well:
In questions of computer science, the talent of a thousand developers is not worth the humble coding of a single individual.
I am pleased to talk with people about matters of computer science or engineering, so you and your colleagues may certainly send me mail. I hope to learn as much from your experiences as you may learn for me. But please get rid of the "community site" way of thinking. It is unscientific and ultimately destructive.