Here's to the Quiet Ones

 First off, I hope you are having an awesome holiday season. I was enjoying mine this past Sunday and talking to my cousin Duane Roelands, who is also a .NET developer, about programmers. I said (and I think this is stolen from somewhere, just not sure where), "There is no such thing as famous programmers, just loud ones." He retorted that there definitely were famous programmers. After some back and forth I thought of people like DHH and R Stallman who are not only loud, but also accomplished and therefore I would consider them famous. I had to concede. 

This got me thinking of the shy quiet amazing developers I have met, and there have been a lot of them. The ones you have heard of were shoved out into society for accomplishing great things, usually amongst much protest. However, the majority haven't crossed your path. Meeting guys like this surprised me in the beginning, because I didn't understand why they didn't shout it from the mountains. In fact, most of the best developers I have spoken to have been very quiet and introverted. It's made me grill all the programmers I meet because I can't rely on the fact that they will be outgoing enough to share if they have some learning to drop on me. 

I love the opportunities I have to be around great developers all the time, really love absorbing what they have to say. So I wanted to take a second and tip my hat to the quiet ones. Because I really appreciate all you have taught this total spaz. 

***EDITOR'S NOTE: I was going to make a X - Talent of Developer, Y- Vociferousness of Developer graph, however, I felt that it would inspire criticisms. However, it would have been funny.***