The Programming Language Skill Scale

Beginner

• Know nothing about it

• Know enough to successfully pretend to know it during lunch

• Know enough to be dangerous with it

• Know enough to be employed to be dangerous with it

Intermediate

• Know enough to ask intelligent questions about it on stackoverflow.com

• Know enough to answer n00b homework questions about it on stackoverflow.com

• Know enough to ridicule n00b homework questions about it on stackoverflow.com

• Know enough to contribute to open-source projects written in it

• Know enough to be disgusted with the state of open-source projects written in it

Expert

• Know enough to start writing a compiler for it

• Know enough to abandon writing a compiler for it

• Know enough to invent an improved version of it to create The One True Language

• Know enough to get bored and find another language to obsess over for a decade or so