I've been thinking a lot about cargo culting in our industry thanks to @sato1108ss sharing a link to https://github.com/npmaile/blog/blob/main/posts/2.%20How%20to%20get%20into%20software.md (see https://octodon.social/@22/110526237837930054 and maybe https://octodon.social/@22/110527399912342356).

In the blog post there, one of the bullets opens with, "learn to use a text editor like emacs or vim" and so far this is a trope I'm familiar with and can summon arguments to refute—but then the author does something unexpected: they continue "emacs or vim or VS Code" and I'm like dafuq? This trope did not go where I was expecting, and it's a beautiful example of how, when you cargo cult, moving the goal posts comes to you effortlessly. By including VS Code in your sentence, this dropped from "this is old wrong advice" to "this is a farce".

Vim and emacs have dropped from "useful to know for when you SSH into a box" (which happens to very few devs these days) to "this is aesthetic self-expression, like my collection of socks and my taste in caffeinated beverages".

But if your conception of what development is is "imitating old farts at my workplace and gate-keep outsiders to keep them away from me", then you won't realize the absurdity of extending cultural practices like learning emacs/vim to include VS Code, an eminently approachable editor that emphasizes breaking down nonsensical cultural barriers. Attached image via https://mas.to/@carnage4life/109668699374679395