Buzz words are a keen sign you are going to be working with a bunch of sales men.
The prejudicial reaction to buzz words is one of the things that I've found really weird in the programming fields. Often, a buzz word was a legitimate technical term just a few years, or a couple of decades ago. It's not the word, it's how it's used. Rejecting someone because they use a given buzz word is just prejudice. It just means you're selecting those people who are so aware of the march of buzzwords, they don't use the stale ones. In some cases, these will be savvy programmers. In other cases, this will be skilled users of word salad.
Buzz words shouldn't trigger a decision. They should trigger questions.
I know where you're coming from, and you are right. Its context. I find buzz words tend to upcoming marketing terms, perhaps we are discussing slightly different things.. not sure. Older buzz terms aren't a problem as they have either been stabilized or rejected.
But where you see "savvy" I generally see naive.
I find people that get hooked up on buzzwords are younger people trying to make a mark and people trying to cash in. Been that demographic myself, been burned, and I watch others burn to this day.
I'm seen so many millions go down the drain to buzz terms and over sold open source initiatives. But then again thats why I put a disclaimer saying I was bitter and jaded LOL
> The prejudicial reaction to buzz words is one of the things that I've found really weird in the programming fields.
At one level, like Google aggregating signals, responding to an abundance of buzz words is one of several ways to classify a given posting as promising or not. A few buzz words could be fine, but a company actually saying they "are building every website in AJAX, MVC, REST, and HTML 5" all in the same sentence is definitely problematic.
Separately, I think there are people who use buzz words to earn points among their non-technical colleagues, which seems to be cultural appropriation from programmers. You can also see this with words that have been redefined in pop culture, like 'hacker'. This naturally breeds resent and wariness of buzz words in general.
I thought when you said you find it really weird, that you didn't really understand it, or the reasons behind it. Now, it seems you do, and you simply think it's irrational? Irrationality in humans and their dealings is not something I find particularly weird anymore, in myself or in others.
What you call "Buzzwords" many would call technical jargon.
Jargon is a shorthand way of communicating quickly with others who understand it.
You see "Buzzwords" in are building every website in AJAX, MVC, REST, and HTML 5, where as I think "I wonder if the MVC is a front end Javascript MVC framework operating against the REST backend, or if the model & controller parts are shared by the REST and AJAX front ends, but have different views?"
I know you meant it as an example, but to me it was a perfectly legitimate description of a development stack.
Theres a definite difference between a framework description and a buzzword over loaded blurb, placement in the ad for example can change the tone of the whole message.
So starting with "we are an HTML 5 AJAX shop..." I would roll my eyes, where as compared to "Our stack makes heavy use of REST methodologies..." I would mull the description.
I guess its a level of understanding that goes into the use of the terms.
My post was not about the specific buzz words, which is why I borrowed the example from the grandparent.
If I were describing a technology stack, it would include the actual development language and further specific, relevant details. That might include the exact example as given, but the example standing on its own still ranks low on the desirability scale.
Also, my description would exclude "building every website in".
The prejudicial reaction to buzz words is one of the things that I've found really weird in the programming fields. Often, a buzz word was a legitimate technical term just a few years, or a couple of decades ago. It's not the word, it's how it's used. Rejecting someone because they use a given buzz word is just prejudice. It just means you're selecting those people who are so aware of the march of buzzwords, they don't use the stale ones. In some cases, these will be savvy programmers. In other cases, this will be skilled users of word salad.
Buzz words shouldn't trigger a decision. They should trigger questions.