Tonight I was putting up an additional shelf in my closet and I didn’t have all the screws and wall anchors I need due to breaking some of the anchors. Thankfully, construction workers and engineers thrive off of convention over configuration! All I had to do is find the approximate size wall anchor in my toolbox.

Do you realize how annoying and unproductive it would be if every time during a construction project (whether a shelf or a house), construction workers had to cast all their own screws, bolts, joints, etc. No! They build from convention. They build with tools and parts that align to common specs and this allows them great customization.

So, why do programmers often say “we don’t have time” or “[convention over configuration] works in an ideal world”?! If programmers were construction workers, they’d be fired and construction would take even longer (think about that scary idea).

Convention over configuration isn’t a “nice to have.” It is paramount to us being productive, efficient, and effective developers. We should take the lesson and be Program Workers.

Construct away!

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