People don’t know who are the programmers

I think I am only partly a programmer (I have a lot of other interests) but when I getting acquainted with “non-computer” people I usually introduce myself as a “programmer” – just for simplicity. Everybody realized who the “programmers” are but often their imagination is a bit strange. Here is a typical talking:

- You’re a programmer, aren’t you?
- Yes, I am.
- Wow! Hear, I got troubles with Windows there…
- I don’t know Windows.
- ???

(As a variant there might be a question how to fix his computer hardware)

The talker is frustrated – he thinks I’m lying because I don’t want to help him. In the best case he concludes: “Ok, he is bad programmer” and stop further talking. In the worst case he is getting curious why I don’t know Windows and there starts a quite idiotic talk where I’m trying to tell about my work with terms understandable for “non-computer” people. I hate it.

Another idiotic talk:

- Maybe you’re a hacker? :-) (sounds like a joke)
- Hmm.. A kind of. (I just forget what the word “hacker” means for the people who learned about it from the mass-media)
My collocutor looking at me as at alien.
- And you really can crack a bank?!

So, in mass vision the programmers are the people who

• has a comprehensive knowledge of Windows
• can fix any computer defect
• the most skilful of them are “the hackers” and they can crack the banks

And a very minority remembers that “a programmer” comes from “to program”…