But, like any other human – they might be human as well – meaing that they may be prone to any personality type, even a disruptive one. Additionally, I think there’s probably a higher chance that a night developers might suffer from the NIH (not invented here) syndrome when it comes to incorporating other solutions into their solutions.

(Maybe it’s just me, but I think most night programmers are also cowboys too – want to solve problems, need praise/attention, and get SERIOUSLY bored with anything remotely resembling maintenance…)

Honestly though, keep up the great ideas. I love watching an elucidation of these paradigms force its way through all the words/comments.

To me the difference is that some developers see programming as a job and others see it as an avocation/profession. The night programmer is in a constant learning mode. They don’t stop at the surface explanation. They break out Reflector to figure out why something doesn’t work instead of just accepting the documentation at face value.

I actively seek Night Programmers for my development teams and can instantly spot them once I have found them. Take a look at most cubicle’s in your office. If you can barely see the developer because of all the technical books and magazines, then you have a night programmer. Ask a day programmer the author of the latest book they read and they are more likely to answer Tom Clancy than they are to answer Dino Esposito.

I agree, what happens is that a person like the one described defines itself as a “night programmer”, and thinks of himself as such and makes sure to get the message to people, and the problem is that very often people will buy that

much like in the same way these guys http://www.thedailywtf.com have formed the concept of a contractor (bills really high and does crappy job)

but a real night programmer doesn’t have to define himself as such, others define him as such

a night programmer, glows in the dark!

“Take a look at most cubicle’s in your office. If you can barely see the developer because of all the technical books and magazines, then you have a night programmer.”

SO NOT TRUE!!!

*they are conventional in their thinking and approach

*circumspect in their expectations of themselves and their projects

*tend to value getting along.

When you highlighting features of the night you highlight “mostly lead” instead of “kicking and screaming”. Kicking and screaming, is pretty much never acceptable. Anyone who has been involved in a large project knows a few cases of this disrupt a project more than anything.

Conventional thinking might not be clever, but by definition, its easy to imitate. For simple problems where efficancy is “just a plus”, convention is just what you want. It makes it easier to grasp by someone else the next time around.

A programmer who goes home at 5 may not be the one you want on your project with that’s one month past its deadline, but he might be the one you want to hire. He won’t get burned out, and quit and he is likely to give you steady productivity instead of their work being peppered with bouts of total indifference.

I think if we look at things this way, we see that maybe there is room in the world for both types.

I think you are getting hung up on the day and night thing still. Its got nothing to do with how long they work, or even where they work, its got to do with results.

What I am saying is that the _results_ that a day programmer produces are not as good as a night programmer. Now – if we are arguing who produces the best results it may just be the case that we are arguing about definitions, not substance.