Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
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Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
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Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#2I was so Alice for much of my career. I know this is going to sound totally cliche because this book get's recommended everywhere, but How to Win Friends and Influence People really did help me.
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#3I was so Alice for much of my career. I know this is going to sound totally cliche because this book get's recommended everywhere, but How to Win Friends and Influence People really did help me.
I'm still part Alice, I think. The Carnegie book really helped me, for sure.
The difficulty though is that at some point if you believe something is important you may ultimately have to go through some kind of dialectic to make your case.
How to Win Friends and Influence People says never have an argument. If you follow this advice you will reap the benefits of the book. However what you're building in your team will trend toward a Least Common Denominator. Or else I don't know how to not let that happen in a world where you can't debate. (Any response that tries to say debate/argument/dialectic aren't all the same thing in this context I think is cheating. Or someone enlighten me.)
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#4I was so Alice for much of my career. I know this is going to sound totally cliche because this book get's recommended everywhere, but How to Win Friends and Influence People really did help me.
I'm still part Alice, I think. The Carnegie book really helped me, for sure. The difficulty though is that at some point if you believe something is important you may ultimately have to go through some kind of dialectic to make your case. How to Win Friends and Influence People says never have an argument. If you follow this advice you will reap the benefits of the book. However what you're building in your team will…
It'd be great if there was a social protocol for having constructive debates, so they weren't always assumed to be bad things.
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#5Why should nothing ever feel bad?
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#6I was so Alice for much of my career. I know this is going to sound totally cliche because this book get's recommended everywhere, but How to Win Friends and Influence People really did help me.
Do you feel like you've made lasting changes as a result of the book, or is it just another choice you can choose to do in a social interaction?
*By lasting changes I mean, do you feel like you've changed and valued being more sociable?
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#7I've never actually come across an actually brilliant engineering person who was also a jerk. Maybe they sometimes superficially seemed like a jerk at first (particularly if you had a very thin skin), but not after you actually made an effort to get to know them.
Most of the time though, the jerks just aren't even close to being brilliant. I feel this jerk attitude is quite often something that is used to mask ineptitude.
This is after 20 years, 7+ companies and quite close work with hundreds of individuals (often in a managing position, so maybe they think I was the jerk ;P).
(In fact I feel like most of the "brilliant" people I have worked with have actually been nicer than the average person.)
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#8I have no problem working with jerks, as long as they're brilliant. Culture fit also means not hiring people who are going to scream bloody murder at a disagreement, if your team is full of disagreeables.
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#9Meanwhile management and executive positions are teeming with not-Brilliant only-Jerks. It's the norm rather than the exception.
Totally makes sense.
Re: Brilliant Jerks in Engineering
#10Alice will make a great founder.
Alice, if you're listening, quit your job and go start your own company!