'Amateur' oughtn't be scare-quoted because it's not a slur, many of the finest programmers were amateurs for many years before they were old enough to be given a job in the profession.
I had an art teacher affectionately remind me the etymology for amateur
> borrowed from French, going back to Middle French, "one who loves, lover," borrowed from Latin amātor "lover, enthusiastic admirer, devotee," from amāre "to have affection for, love, be in love, make love to" (of uncertain origin) + -tōr-, -tor, agent suffix
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amateur#etymology...
changes the feeling of it all when you get that context, someone who loves a subject pretty much--no qualifications skill wise or regarding depth but they love it and should presumably take things seriously to some degree as any lover would.
Using 'amateur' (quoted or not) is click bait. It's an embellishment to the rest of the headline. For that matter even though it's true the graphics cards are as well. Only thing that could have made it more click bait would be to also put in AI in the headline.
True, rather like age (or any discrimination category actually) is often used to make something sound more of an achievement, even though it's actually just about right place right time, experience (which you could happen to have at almost any age), etc.
If u used to be a paid software programmer and got a different job, but continued doing programming side projects without pay, are u an amateur or not?
Yes, but you'd also be a former professional. Amateur also isn't meant to be a negative term, it just means you do it as a hobby rather than as a profession.
