Who can code?

[Pack3t SynAck3r]

Now, I want to be able to call myself an advanced programmer, but I've seen and read about advanced topics that mean nothing to me. My logic is very strong and I can get a computer to do nearly anything I can imagine, but there are real programmers out there that have exacted the discipline to become truly good. I am a surface learner who samples skills of all types.

Self abatement and arrogance in one post! I rock! And suck! Gaze upon my incompetent prowess!

An interesting way to state your faith in your own abilities. It makes me think of a quote I heard from my computer science teacher my freshman year of college. "Studying computer science for 12 years will no more make you an excellent programmer than studying 12 years in art school will turn you into the next Picasso." Programming is an art and a science. It requires, knowledge, logic and creativity. There are thousands of programmers that satisfy the first two requirements, but only a fraction of that satisfy the last one. I dropped out of college when I got a job offer from the government for a large sum of money when I was 20. I caught attention when I was younger for a few "creative" programs I had written and they decided to put me to work because of it. Leaving MIT was not easy, but I figured fuck it, in my line of work a degree will only get you a job with a shitty corporation stuck in a cubicle. I love the work, but never really wanted to work FOR someone. I did my two years for the government and moved on to do my own thing.

75% of the code I write is directly related to malware/security research and dissection and so therefore most of the code I write is on a fairly "low" level. C and ASM are really all that is necessary for me produce what is necessary in my endeavors. I KNOW I am excellent at what I do because all of my programs work. Any programs' existence is justified by the simple fact that it exists after all. I have never ultimately failed to accomplish to write a program I have needed . I have had countless failures along the way of course, plenty of redoes and endless hours of debugging. I also have learned a lot on the fly as necessary, but if I got everything perfect all the time I would get bored, and never improve myself. In the end necessity is the mother of all invention and if I need it, I make it. I have several friends who could certainly be considered great programmers, but they are working for companies that are forcing them to breathe life into someone else's ideas. When they get home they are so burned out that they don't bother working on their own shit anymore. It is really quite a shame.
I guess my point is if you can code what you need then that makes you all the programmer that you need to be.