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Why are so many programmers arrogant?

programmers.stackexchange.com

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Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#21

Post by marcusbooster »

jacquesm wrote: post #4

They're not really arrogant, they just come off as such. Programmers usually are pretty clever cookies and as a rule are more often right than wrong, even if the subject is not programming, that alone is enough to mark them as arrogant. We also tend to be an opinionated bunch. Some of them compound the problem by no longer considering other people to be occasionally right and them being wrong and do cross the line in…

A programmer is not a mathematician, physicist, or surgeon - and yet a programmer would put himself on that list.

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#22

Post by jacquesm »

locopati wrote: post #18
yycom wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the trouble with being brilliant, people think you're arrogant.

Brilliance in one domain does not equal brilliance in all domains. Often the pride of a programmer regarding his or her work gets carried over into communication with people in other domains, who may be just as brilliant in their own sphere.

Yes, but this is exactly where the problem lies:

> who may be just as brilliant in their own sphere.

Or they may not be. And woo to you if you come in as an outsider of that domain and you start talking sense.

That's one surefire way of being branded 'arrogant'. I had a gf that worked in genetics and I spotted an error in a draft of a paper and she got really mad with me for thinking that I could make a contribution to her work that she had studied hard for.

Turned out I was right though, and that really pissed her off, in spite of the very diplomatic delivery.

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#23

Post by itg »

Mz wrote: post #5

I'm not really qualified to comment on programmers per se. But I am reminded of a personal anecdote: In my mid-twenties, I had to have minor surgery on my face. My looks were very important to me. I thought I was quite beautiful and this was upsetting to me. I was concerned I would be disfigured but I really had to have the surgery. Trying to make my peace with it, I commented "I guess I can always have cosmetic surg…

You can state the same thing different ways depending on the words you use, tone of voice, etc. Just because you are brilliant in one field doesn't give you a pass to look down on everyone else.

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#24

Post by J3L2404 »

meric wrote: post #8

"The wild programmer (Scriptus exemplarus aspergerii) is generally a shy creature when in its natural habitat. While some deviant boisterous specimens do exist, they are the oddity rather than the rule. He is content with spending his life staring at rectangular pieces of backlit canvas, and occasionally bashing on rectangular pieces of polished material. Come to think of it, most of his activities revolve around rec…

Rounded Rects

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#26

Post by Mz »

itg wrote: post #23
Mz wrote: post #5

I'm not really qualified to comment on programmers per se. But I am reminded of a personal anecdote: In my mid-twenties, I had to have minor surgery on my face. My looks were very important to me. I thought I was quite beautiful and this was upsetting to me. I was concerned I would be disfigured but I really had to have the surgery. Trying to make my peace with it, I commented "I guess I can always have cosmetic surg…

You can state the same thing different ways depending on the words you use, tone of voice, etc. Just because you are brilliant in one field doesn't give you a pass to look down on everyone else.

Just because you are brilliant in one field doesn't give you a pass to look down on everyone else.

And just because you are brilliant at something in particular does not mean you also have equally brilliant diplomatic skills so as to be able to state the fact (that you are exceptionally competent at X) without sounding arrogant. I try to cut people some slack in that regard.

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#27

Post by chrisbennet »

While I don't doubt that the stereotype exists for a reason (the arrogant, maladjusted programmer) I can't really remember encountering any in all the time I've been working with other programmers (25ys). Perhaps it's more prevalent in non face to face situations like chat rooms or with the less mature.

I've seen the brilliant ones get a little frustrated with "slow" people but they weren't dickheads about it. In my personal experience, developers really go out of their way to help an enthusiastic "newbie" get up to speed.

On the other hand, I have seen situations where a newbie would ask a forum for an answer to his homework assignment and then get upset because he didn't get an immediate answer or someone pointed him to a source for his answer ("here's a link to sorting algorithms") instead of coding up the assignment for him.

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#28

Post by mseebach »

rick_2047 wrote: post #17
mseebach wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For an encore, check 'mathematicians are arrogant', 'physicists are arrogant', 'surgeons are arrogant' and so on. It took me a while to realize that http://xkcd.com/793/ wasn't about programmers..

It took me a while to realize that http://xkcd.com/793/ wasn't about programmers.. Even though it was titled physicists?

Yes. The titles seldom add any value to XKCD, so I guess I filtered it out.

Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?

#29

Post by Mz »

jacquesm wrote: post #22
locopati wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brilliance in one domain does not equal brilliance in all domains. Often the pride of a programmer regarding his or her work gets carried over into communication with people in other domains, who may be just as brilliant in their own sphere.

Yes, but this is exactly where the problem lies: > who may be just as brilliant in their own sphere. Or they may not be. And woo to you if you come in as an outsider of that domain and you start talking sense. That's one surefire way of being branded 'arrogant'. I had a gf that worked in genetics and I spotted an error in a draft of a paper and she got really mad with me for thinking that I could make a contribution…

Turned out I was right though, and that really pissed her off, in spite of the very diplomatic delivery.

Sometimes, being right is the most offensive sin you can possibly commit.

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