The Imaginary Band of Drupal Rock Stars
matthewtift.com April 11, 2019
Certified to Rock
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The list goes on and on …
Outline
1. Background
2. Consequences
3. Reconceive
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Billboard 1960
“If we make Rockstar a real (and completely pointless) programming language, then recruiters and hiring managers won’t be able to talk about ‘rockstar developers’ any more”
How it’s used
1. Compliment
2. Ideal
Narrative “ceaselessly substitutes meaning for the straightforward copy of the events recounted.”
Roland Barthes (1915-1980)
“Her name is in MAINTAINERS.txt”
“She is a Drupal rock star”
“The king died and
then the queen died”
“The king died and then the queen died of grief ”
E.M. Forster (1879-1970)
“Interpret each notion by tracing its respective practical consequences”
William James (1842-1910)
Function
What does the rock star concept do?
Individuals
Teams
Imaginary Groups
Communities
Language that excludes manginalized groups
“I want Lullabot to be known as leaders, not rockstars and ninjas.”
Matt Westgate, CEO, Lullabot (2019)
musical term → musical term
(rock star)
Hacking as artististic espression
“Technologies can be understood as always already musical.”
Roger Moseley in JAMS, 2015
“To be original with the minimum of alteration is sometimes more distinguished than to be original with the maximum of alteration.”
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
Hackers learn to insert “usable software into a completely unfamiliar amalgamation of people, organizations, machines, and practices.”
Christopher Kelty (2008)
Skillful improvising allows others to shine
Rock Star
Arrange
Borrow
Collaborate
Improvise
#Social
Pedro Lozano