Kobe Bryant says...

"Kobe Bryant 2014" by Keith Allison - Flickr: Kobe Bryant. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

We do sometimes talk about the traits of a good programmer. A lot can be said and there is an excellent book about what a good programmer should do and be, the pragmatic programmer.

But I think it boils down to this little extract from a Kobe Bryant interview (yeah, who would have thought...)

I never looked at it as work, I didn’t realise it was work until my first year in the NBA, when I came around I was surrounded by other professionals, and I thought basketball was going to be everything to them and it wasn’t. I’m like, ‘this is different.’ I thought everybody was obsessive about the game like me. I was like, ‘oh, so that’s hard work.’ 

This is exactly how I feel about programming. The work aspect is of course important. But is it the obsession that makes a good programmer.

The same applies to all profession. Keep the passion.