We Are HTML Developers

Ah yes, the mythical "real programmer" – that elusive creature who apparently codes everything from scratch using nothing but pure brain power and cosmic vibes. Meanwhile, in reality, the rest of us mortals are over here frantically Googling syntax, copying from Stack Overflow, and begging AI to fix our broken code at 3 AM. The gatekeeping is strong with this one! Next thing you'll tell me "real programmers" only code on punchcards while standing barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways.

Normal programming languages have the decency to tell you when you've messed up. JavaScript just sits there with that stupid smile while you slowly descend into madness. It's like talking to a therapist who responds to your emotional breakdown with "and how does that make you feel?" Except the therapist is a programming language and your feelings are irrelevant to the cold, unfeeling void of undefined behavior.

The eternal struggle of frontend developers! Wanted to solve crimes, ended up typing margin: 0 auto; repeatedly just to make divs behave. The classic CSS centering investigation - where you need detective-level skills to figure out why your element won't stay centered. And just when you think you've cracked the case, another div goes rogue. The title "Margin 0 Auto 0 Auto" is actually redundant CSS (just like most of our stylesheets), which makes it even funnier for those who've spent hours debugging layout issues.

The eternal cycle of developer disappointment: find a promising tutorial, only to discover it was written when dinosaurs roamed the internet. Nothing quite captures the soul-crushing despair of trying to follow instructions that reference libraries abandoned by their own creators. The best part? Spending 3 hours debugging just to realize the tutorial was written for a version that's now considered archaeological evidence.

It's the RPG character selection screen nobody asked for but everyone secretly relates to! Choose your programmer archetype: Top left: The Corporate Legacy Warrior - Internet Explorer, Windows Server 2003, and .NET. You've got job security until those legacy systems finally die (which might be never). Top right: The Privacy Paladin - C programming, GNU/Linux, ThinkPads, and Tor. You probably have a Richard Stallman shrine and whisper "proprietary software is theft" in your sleep. Bottom left: The Hipster Bard - HTML5, JS, Apple, Electron, and of course, the mandatory Starbucks coffee. Your apps are bloated but your Instagram is fire. Bottom right: The Hardcore Wizard - Arch Linux, Monster Energy, mechanical keyboards, and 300 commits per day. You've been coding since 12 and think sleep is optional. The real question isn't which class you are, but which one you'll admit to being in public.

The tech industry's time paradox in pixel-perfect form! Entry-level jobs that somehow require you to have been coding since the Nixon administration. Grandpa's been slinging COBOL since 1959 and even HE can't land a job. Meanwhile, recruiters want junior devs with 10 years of experience in a 3-year-old framework. The only true entry-level position is apparently "time traveler with programming skills." Maybe we should all just learn COBOL and wait for the legacy systems to have their revenge!