Similarly, you 2^n blob level is wrong too. Most low-competency programmers have no idea there are programming blogs. I know some folks who hit logn status in parts of your matrix who would respond “Really? There are programming blogs?” if asked what they read.

I found a similar matrix created by an organization. You can find it on my blog at http://kevinrodrigues.com/blog/2009/12/28/what-skills-should-a-good-developer-possess/

Some other things to point out:
DVCS: lacking for the level of knowledge needed at a “log n” level. Rebasing with GIT or scripting something in SVN to act like GIT’s bisect functionality.
also missing. ability to work with branch-per-feature, merging strategies, VCS hooks and custom attributes.
architecture part is missing. No mention of DDD or description of where OO came from and why
IoC, DI, the rest of SOLID. AOP
where to use and where not to use
where and why RAD is good / bad
IDE is very shortsighted making custom macros look like a holy grail. Refactoring tools like IntelliJ IDEA, Resharper, Refactor Pro, Code Rush?

Just initial thoughts, I tweeted the same thing but may have left something out.

Otherwise, a great place to start discussion.

Adam

Software process, lifecycles, process improvement (e.g. agile, XP, SCRUM, RUP, TSP, CMMI). Software architecture documentation (e.g. UML notations, component-and-connector diagrams). Software architecture and design (e.g. design patterns, architectural styles). Formal methods (OCL, Z, Petri Nets, rate monotonic analysis). Static analysis. Software project estimation (use case points, function points, COCOMO). Requirements documentation (use cases, user stories, quality attributes and quality attribute scenarios, paper prototypes). Project planning and management (work breakdown structures, earned value analysis). Risk management.

- Is able to effectively communicate with peers – is a Level 2 skill?
- Writing a framework means little; Most “Architects” i have seen have written one. Mostly unusable.
- File has license header, summary, well commented, consistent white space usage. The file should look beautiful?
- Scott Hanselman’s Power Tools list?
- ….

I guess the list is partly valid within the Microsoft-Technology + IT Services context.

Thanks for your inputs, This post was written a year back and I already think that some of the stuff in here is obsolete or needs revision. I can only write based on the experience that I have right now and hopefully a few years from now I can come up with a better matrix that covers more of the “getting things done” aspects that you talk about (which I agree are very important as well)

(For the record, I’ve written code for 737 flight trainers, show control software in Las Vegas hotels, and pioneered hardware and software products that changed the face of the travel industry. I even wrote a few games back in the late 80’s.)

What the writer fails to perceive is that it isn’t what you know, it’s what you do with the knowledge. We’ve certainly had to fire programmers that would have ranked in the O log(n) columns for many categories simply because they couldn’t get anything done. (I work for a rather large multi-national corporation that produces both hardware and software.) We gave one guy a project and three weeks later there wasn’t one line of code. The analysis and design was done, mind you–he was still cogitating on the relative merits of for() vs. while() vs. do-while(). In a world where payment rightfully comes from results, getting results is important–as opposed to whether or not one has “tried out Bzr/Mercurial/Darcs/Git.”

We also have a lot of bright third-column guys that simply spend too much time screwing off instead of getting work done. Work ethic isn’t discussed at all in the matrix, and it’s actually more important than whether or not someone compiles from the IDE or on the command line.

The matrix also doesn’t really address communications at all–it just sort of takes a lazy swipe at it and then goes back to lazy crap like “who knows the most keyboard shortcuts.” Honestly, the whole thing is so grade six that it’s embarrassing.

As an exercise in mental masturbation, I give it a B+. As a reflection of real-world skill requirements, I give it a C-, if not a D+. The author, 20 years from now, will find it an embarrassment and hope no one downloaded and kept a copy.