Decent article but it&#x27;s missing a lot of the things I expected to see, given the introduction. This seems really focused on the things I&#x27;d consider most analogous to &quot;physiological&quot; and &quot;safety&quot; needs. Writing code is a very basic part of software development, like chopping vegetables is a basic part of cooking.<p>To me, Maslow&#x27;s hierarchy of needs is interesting because it tops out at &quot;self-actualization&quot;. Maslow is effectively saying that the most important need a human can fulfill in their own life is the need to have a purpose and to live out that purpose.<p>The top of the analogous hierarchy of software development needs in this post, on the other hands, fizzles out at &quot;patterns&quot;. What about understanding how different patterns are used to make a working piece of software? What about fitting separate software systems together to make a functioning product? What about shaping a product to fill some kind of need in the world?<p>My hierarchy would look something like this (with less bad ASCII art):<p><pre><code>           &#x2F;-----------\
          &#x2F; Meeting requirements
         &#x2F;---------------\
        &#x2F; Designing software architectures
       &#x2F;-------------------\
      &#x2F; Manipulating software systems (e.g. implementing an HTTP service, setting up a database, etc.)
     &#x2F;-----------------------\
    &#x2F; Writing code (e.g. accessing APIs, implementing a function, etc.)
   &#x2F;---------------------------\
</code></pre>
with &quot;meeting requirements&quot; at the top since that is the most important thing to be done as a software developer, and it can&#x27;t be done without addressing the needs below it. It&#x27;s not as lofty of a name as &quot;self-actualization&quot;, though.