Communications of the ACM
How Apple Made Programmers Cool
"The cool-ification of programming . . . might be the greatest trick Apple has ever pulled," says Chris Stevens, CEO of Atomic Antelope.
Credit: CNet
The rise of the app has massively altered the public perception of what a software programmer is. It has turned a generation of geek coders from social misfits into superheroes. Mention to someone that you make iPhone apps and their interest will pick up instantly. They may even ask if you're a millionaire. This is an astonishing change from what a programmer in the 80s could have expected in reaction to their job description.
We now live in an age where companies like Tapulous can, apparently without irony, run a job ad that reads, "We are hiring rock-star developers." Amazingly, if you visit a modern development studio, you may find the workers are treated a bit like rock stars. The demand for good programmers has never been greater and this is reflected in the perks being offered to entice them to new start-ups.
Perhaps it was inevitable, when the company behind the marketing success of the iMac and the iPod turned its hand to promoting independent software development, that the public image of developers would change forever. Apple has literally transformed the social acceptability of programmers and overseen the rise of the geek.
From CNet
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