There are some grave problems with this article. I agree with the basic premise 100% but the article over simplifies the idea to focus on data. It isn't just about data, data structures, or even relationships. It is about organization in general, and most people cannot perform at that level.
To be clear: Good programmers worry about the organization and cleanliness of their code. They worry that their code is reduced to the smallest of forms, consistent in expression, and exceptional in measure.
The limitation here is personality and not intelligence and there is a lot of data on this.
The personality metric of concern is conscientiousness, which is how a person perceives the world outside themselves. This one thing is responsible for self-discipline, concepts of organization, initiative, half of empathy, and much more. People at the extreme high end of this lean more towards things like authoritarianism, obligation, duty, healthy living, and social alignment. These people find joy in putting things into order and discerning relational structures.
People on the low end tend to be free spirits, are more likely to experiment with drug use, can't clean their rooms or pick up trash even if you put a gun to their heads. Concepts of work effort and self-reliance are almost entirely unimaginable. These people cannot organize anything and they require absurd rewards to accomplish the smallest tasks, and even still the output of their efforts is fleeting and temporary. They simply cannot see abstract relational concepts and cannot be compelled so.
Strangely, low scoring people struggle to discern value from a thing as they cannot perceive separations of vanity from functionality. Yet, they have no problem selling things in full awareness that if they cannot perceive value then neither can most other people. High scoring people don't do this and thus tend to make less effective merchandisers.
High scoring people tend to perceive low scoring people as slobs, sloths, and an anchor on social progress. Low scoring people tend to perceive high scoring people as perfectionists, prudes, and unnecessarily distracted on trivialities far outside their imagination.
The common assumption is that people who are brilliant at abstract organization and industriousness must be more intelligent. This makes sense because these people tend to be more successful in all aspects of life other than careers in entertainment. That assumption is completely wrong, though. Conscientiousness is negatively correlated to intelligence at -0.27, according to various studies.
To be clear: Good programmers worry about the organization and cleanliness of their code. They worry that their code is reduced to the smallest of forms, consistent in expression, and exceptional in measure.
The limitation here is personality and not intelligence and there is a lot of data on this.
The personality metric of concern is conscientiousness, which is how a person perceives the world outside themselves. This one thing is responsible for self-discipline, concepts of organization, initiative, half of empathy, and much more. People at the extreme high end of this lean more towards things like authoritarianism, obligation, duty, healthy living, and social alignment. These people find joy in putting things into order and discerning relational structures.
People on the low end tend to be free spirits, are more likely to experiment with drug use, can't clean their rooms or pick up trash even if you put a gun to their heads. Concepts of work effort and self-reliance are almost entirely unimaginable. These people cannot organize anything and they require absurd rewards to accomplish the smallest tasks, and even still the output of their efforts is fleeting and temporary. They simply cannot see abstract relational concepts and cannot be compelled so.
Strangely, low scoring people struggle to discern value from a thing as they cannot perceive separations of vanity from functionality. Yet, they have no problem selling things in full awareness that if they cannot perceive value then neither can most other people. High scoring people don't do this and thus tend to make less effective merchandisers.
High scoring people tend to perceive low scoring people as slobs, sloths, and an anchor on social progress. Low scoring people tend to perceive high scoring people as perfectionists, prudes, and unnecessarily distracted on trivialities far outside their imagination.
The common assumption is that people who are brilliant at abstract organization and industriousness must be more intelligent. This makes sense because these people tend to be more successful in all aspects of life other than careers in entertainment. That assumption is completely wrong, though. Conscientiousness is negatively correlated to intelligence at -0.27, according to various studies.