Wisdom? maybe, I don't know. But humility? well, long ego trip posts about ones achievements and future achievements are not exactly artifacts for humility, in my papers. And the usual downtoning of one's achievements in this article is only making matters worse.
Oh by the way, this comment is not against the author, it's against humility-as-a-value. I think we've gone too far here. The creator of virtualenv and pip do not have to force himself showing humility, he should be proud. There's nothing wrong in being proud of one's achievements.
I think this post is really addressed at the Python community, and I would be surprised if anyone in that category that has interacted with Ian over the years would interpret any of this as an ego trip and fake downplaying of achievements.
The person you replied to wasn't specifying that he valued Ian Bicking's humility in that specific blog post, but his general demeanour within the Python community.
Ok, possibly. But even then, I hope I am not the only one to have noticed a trend where many people in the tech community declare themselves "humbled" or display some humility in one form or another.
So, Ian Bicking aside, I think it is an interesting topic. Some notes:
- Like real generosity do not display itself, real humility hides itself. Or should.
- Humility (or some expressions of it) can be seen as a Middle-age Christian value. Jesus-Christ himself was all but humble, but in European Middle-Ages and after, there was a few movements trying to show unlimited submission to God's will, and humility was proposed as a core value.
- While I understand the pro-humility trend is a counterweight of the arrogance, which is quite annoying too, I think best would be to display none of them. In fact it means displaying less of the self, and more of interesting content. I think Peter Norvig's articles are good examples of writings letting the self in the back shade, which by ricochet raises curiosity and interest in the author's self. I think many other authors are also good examples.
I agree with you. However, in my personal experience, pride seems to be shot down somewhat in our wider programming community--if you're outwardly seen as "boasting", that's considered bad form, so I understand why others would default to "humility".
Oh by the way, this comment is not against the author, it's against humility-as-a-value. I think we've gone too far here. The creator of virtualenv and pip do not have to force himself showing humility, he should be proud. There's nothing wrong in being proud of one's achievements.
[grammar edited]