Am I a hacker? - A Nice One

I used to call myself a hacker all the time. That was before the term was usurped by a different breed of people. Maybe I should back up and explain.

If you read Steven Levy's book, Hackers, it paints a picture of people who love and understand the technology they use. These are people who can "hack" together a solution to a problem with a soldering iron and a few paper clips. People who modify operating systems because they don't like the way they work. People who follow the "hacker ethic" that information should be free.

If that's a hacker, that's me.

A Good Programmer’s key indicators

A Good Programmer’s key indicators:
#1 : Passion
#2 : Self-teaching and love of learning
#3 : Intelligence
#4 : Hidden experience
#5 : Variety of technologies
#6 : Formal qualifications

Positive indicators:
• Passionate about technology
• Programs as a hobby
• Will talk your ear off on a technical subject if encouraged
• Significant (and often numerous) personal side-projects over the years
• Learns new technologies on his/her own
• Opinionated about which technologies are better for various usages
• Very uncomfortable about the idea of working with a technology he doesn’t believe to be “right”
• Clearly smart, can have great conversations on a variety of topics
• Started programming long before university/work
• Has some hidden “icebergs”, large personal projects under the CV radar
• Knowledge of a large variety of unrelated technologies (may not be on CV)