Hacker vs Engineer - Know The Difference! » What’s In Peter’s...

The important thing is to understand the difference and know when you need to hack, and when you need to engineer. Unlike the previous examples where it was all one or all the other, most development work requires you to assume both of these roles at different times. When debugging or scaling, you’ll probably need to put on your engineer hat, while if you’re designing a new feature, rewriting, or doing a greenfield project, you’ll hack more. There can’t be a divide between the two, whether on a team or different roles for an individual. A scaling problem might require big-picture experimentation to overcome a serious limitation. While hacking a new site, you might need to iterate over a small, important area of a page in order to hit your sweet spot in the market. Do both, and know when to do which.

Highlighted by joel