Comments on: Hacker vs Engineer – Know The Difference!

By: Jasper Nance

Jasper Nance — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:31:42 +0000

Reading the comments I think that most people are misunderstanding what you mean by hacker. The word has changed over the last 5-10 years to mean what USED to be a ‘tinkerer’. ‘Hacker’ in this sense is not someone who breaks into computers, but someone who makes things only maybe with lots of energy and not a lot of beaurocracy. The way you compare them is like folk art vs fine art. I don’t know if I agree in your examples, I see them as different types of engineers (Tesla vs Edison). ‘Hacker’ is just the new buzzword for hispter engineers who think that all engineers are from 1955 and wear horn rimmed glasses or maybe defense contractors with 10,000 pounds of paperwork under every project. Just my 2 cents.

By: ankush

ankush — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:20:52 +0000

i say that both are the same in terms of knowledge as in a hacker and engineer both know the same things programing both can do both its just which path u take and both are necessary
engineers make software
hackers find faults
and both these tasks are equally hard so u cannot say that either one is more skilled

By: hareesh

hareesh — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:48:43 +0000

a hacker can do a better program than an engineer ….why because only a hacker can know the loop-holes or mistakes in a program..because he knows how to destruct the program..and when he construct a program he doesn’t make that mistakes….
apologize if my comment hurts an engineer (who reads this)

By: Scotty, Macgyver, & Doctor Who are Hackers » Victus Spiritus

Scotty, Macgyver, & Doctor Who are Hackers » Victus Spiritus — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:43:05 +0000

[...] Peter Christensen does a good job of contrasting hackers and engineers. But my variant is a spin off of well known hacker/founder/investor (he’s multiclass) Paul Graham. Here’s Mr. Graham’s working definition for hacker: To the popular press, “hacker” means someone who breaks into computers. Among programmers it means a good programmer. But the two meanings are connected. To programmers, “hacker” connotes mastery in the most literal sense: someone who can make a computer do what he wants—whether the computer wants to or not. [...]

By: betwixt

betwixt — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:14:40 +0000

yes very good essay, i especially like the update2

By: My daily readings 03/08/2008 « Strange Kite

My daily readings 03/08/2008 « Strange Kite — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:39:02 +0000

[...] Hacker vs Engineer – Know The Difference! » What’s In Peter’s Head Annotated [...]

By: test 03/07/2008 « Strange Kite

test 03/07/2008 « Strange Kite — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:43:23 +0000

[...] Hacker vs Engineer – Know The Difference! » What’s In Peter’s Head Annotated [...]

By: Nivi

Nivi — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:10:20 +0000

I enjoyed your essay. It seems related to the difference between efficiency and effectiveness: efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right things.

A good engineer can be very efficient. A hacker with the right idea can be very effective. A hacker with the wrong idea is neither.