Code Monkey vs. Code Donkey

You sure know who a Code Monkey is. Meant positively, it actually means a good guy - a coding guru. Managers are after him, 'cause he produces tons of code. Customers are after him, 'cause he is an enabler. Girls are after him, 'cause he's sexy (well, at least the Axe / Lynx ads tell him that).

Right? Well, that's the image. The problem with this image is that a couple of those who think or would like to think they are Code Monkeys are actually Code Donkeys - intendedly or accidentally, and the difference is a little bit more than just one letter and biological species.

Let me give you a couple of very different technical and psychological examples of what I mean is a Code Donkey:

• Breaks the builds - sometimes or often
• Uses VCS as code backup system
• Suffers from Goodnight-Commit syndrome
  
• Suffers from Superhero syndrome overestimating his own capabilities and thus quickly becoming unreliable
• Never blames himself for a failure, blames all the others for everything he did wrong
• Just randomly doesn't answer to emails or questions
  
• Hunts every new technology hype, screwing it into the current solution, no matter if it fits there or not
• Knows everything better and ignores best practices or suggestions from the others
• Doesn't share knowledge, i.e. doesn't mentor juniors
• Doesn't document and comment his code well
• Prefers talking over listening in meetings or in other gatherings
• Criticizes formalism of non-startups showing how "easy" it is to just peg down the code without all those layers, abstractions etc.
  

And so on and so forth. The list is absolutely not complete. These are just some highlights. But you might see what I mean when I would tend to call someone a Code Donkey. It's not personal, it's just the level of professionalism that I expect from someone who would call himself a coding guru and thus a Code Monkey.

It's not the speed of your typing or the amount of yout tweets and thus the alledged coolness. It's how you act. And to be a guru, you need to act professionally.