Press 0

There’s a lot to be learned by calling a company’s main phone line and listening to their maze of phone options. At best “Press 1 for sales” is the first option, but if you pay attention you’ll notice that the final option you hear — the last option you hear — is “Press 0 to speak to an operator”.

I think it should be the other way around.

Programming is quite a bit more than just syntax and code and design patterns. Code is programming. Psychology and project management and human relations is software development. The human factor. It involves listening to what the client is saying and what they’re not saying. It means striving to understand what their needs and wants are and knowing the difference between them.

Many programmers have a natural aversion to human contact, at least with clients anyway, and prefer the predictable yet non-judgmental company of technology. Yet one of the hallmarks of top-notch software developers is their ability to handle the soft side of the craft, the interpersonal communication that helps them truly understand their customer. If you look at the full software development life-cycle, writing code is a small portion of the overall process.

Pressing 0 to speak with a real human should be the first option. As any real programmer can tell you, zero comes before 1 anyway.