The Sunburned Surveyor’s Geospatial Programmer Recognition Award

I believe we live in a world that is obsessed with self-promotion and a quest for glory. We seem to be slaves to our own egos, and have a difficult time improving ourselves through constructive criticism. Even in the open source community you come across programmers that react with an almost violent fervor when there own work is challenged or questioned.

It would seem beneficial to make a concerted effort to tamper our own egos, while looking for admirable qualities in others. This helps us to appreciate our own shortcomings and imperfections, and gives us the chance to reflect on the good parts of other’s personalities that we would like to better imitate.

So I’ve decided to take some concrete steps along this vein. I will occasionally (every couple of months) highlight someone on my blog in the open source geospatial community that has the type of personality I am talking about. I’m going to identify these individuals as the recipient of The Sunburned Surveyor’s Programmer Recognition Award.

The programmers that receive my little award will have made contributions to my own growth as a programmer and/or as a mapper, or will have made these types of contributions to others. These programmers are not motivated by ego or a quest for glory. Instead, they are moved by a desire to help others and a true love of what they do. They are community builders and team maintainers. They are teachers, coaches, and mentors. I’ll be sure to identify what I most admire about each of the programmers, and I will indicate why they are getting the award.

I’ll announce the first recipient of my Geospatial Programmer Recognition Award in the next few days.

The Sunburned Surveyor's Geospatial Programmer Recognition Award doesn't come with a fancy certificate, any free trips to a tropical island, and no trophy. It's really just recognition on my blog (which is likely being read only by myself and my dog). :] This isn't much of an award, but it is one way for me to shine the light on programmers that set a good example for the rest of us.

The Sunburned Surveyor