A bit similar to Medical experience, a deep familiarity with computer systems that many fine opaque may come across quite arrogant. Picture someone struggling with a setting and you fly by, "hot key to x menu, third tab, look for option Q, set it to baz", just seems obvious (although it took an hour of goolge-time to discover) but as you rush off the dazed user is still struggling.
Why are so many programmers arrogant?
31–40 of 98 posts
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#32I have been called arrogant after I politely pointed out that people are driving 300mph towards a wall.
I have been called arrogant when after they crashed I politely pointed out that I warned them in time that they will crash and burn.
I have been called arrogant when I refused to clean up the mess for a 100th time - which could easily be prevented if people took a little bit of caution and tried to understand their own predicament.
I have also been called arrogant when I insisted that something has to be done YESTERDAY to systemically prevent results that have profound negative impacts.
Yup... I guess It has to be us.
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
To help with that he wrote it again at the bottom of the cartoon.
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#34As a programmer and someone who has started a small SaaS software business by myself. I can related to this comment. Programmer are the doers. They often pride themselves as the ones who are actually getting things done in an technology company.
This mentality often comes off to "those who manages or lead" as arrogant, and rightfully so. Often the doers don't see the bigger picture. For example, the relationships that is required to have individuals in an organization work together as a whole.
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#35They'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…
as a rule are more often right than wrong, even if the subject is not programming
I would say this statement is the very height of arrogance. But this is easy to test: simply don't engage the services of any specialists for bit. Do your own plumbing, fix your own car or central heating, represent yourself in court (and tell the judge you know more than him about the law). Then see how you feel in a year.
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#36Any person who has rational thoughts in this diplomatic world would seem arrogant to some scale. Example, Rational:"The education system in India is seriously broken beyond repair. Anyone who succeeds, succeeds despite the system and not because of the system." Diplomatic:"The education system of India is not really on the right track, but we have a real flow of potential. This is evident by the number of people that…
So, how does the Diplomatic track then get to address the brokenness?
"But you said we were on the right track?"
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#37They'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…
That's the trouble with being brilliant, people think you're arrogant.
I know a few people who really are world-class brilliant, pioneers in their fields. All of them are humble in their demeanor, they are friendly and approachable and always have time to help.
Arrogance is a sign of having led people to believe you're better than you are...
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. The titles seldom add any value to XKCD, so I guess I filtered it out.
To help with that he wrote it again at the bottom of the cartoon.
The point I was trying to make was not about my literacy, but rather that I instantly recognised the character as a programmer, even though he was meant to be a physicist.
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#39They'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…
as a rule are more often right than wrong, even if the subject is not programming I would say this statement is the very height of arrogance. But this is easy to test: simply don't engage the services of any specialists for bit. Do your own plumbing, fix your own car or central heating, represent yourself in court (and tell the judge you know more than him about the law). Then see how you feel in a year.
> Do your own plumbing, fix your own car or central heating, represent yourself in court (and tell the judge you know more than him about the law). Then see how you feel in a year.
I just rebuilt a house (which obviously includes a great deal of plumbing, including a central heating system) and have swapped out the gearbox in a front-wheel drive japanese car.
If you want I can post the pictures as proof.
I am not likely to be able to get in to situation where I will have to represent myself in court.
Anything else ?
But I do know the limits of my knowledge, am quite ready to admit I'm wrong about something and do my best to learn from people with more knowledge than me about anything at all. Including lawyers (my mom happens to be one).
edit: and as an aside, if I had to be represented in court I'd be more than happy to hire a lawyer because representing yourself in court as a rule is stupid, even if you are a lawyer, let alone if you are not.
Re: Why are so many programmers arrogant?
#40Young people with a natural affinity for an in-demand skill often are. A hundred years ago you could have written this about pilots. 500 years about painters (apprentices to the great masters in the Renaissance were notorious for it). As an aside, for every genuine Aspbergers case, there are 10 who simply think they have a god-given right to act like dicks. It's like dyslexics, you can always tell the real ones becau…
It's interesting that you mention apprentices to the great masters, which squares with my experience--- the most arrogant people, or at least the most abrasive and outgoing with their arrogance, are usually the 2nd and 3rd tiers, not the top tier. There are arrogant people at the top tier, but many fewer than I would've thought. I suspect it has something to do with no longer feeling a need to prove themselves, no longer feeling in competition with people, etc. There might also be a bit of branching out into other areas later in one's career that causes them to be a bit more humble, since famous people often try to become more generalist once they've gotten famous in a specific area, and it's harder to be arrogant in a very wide area than in a niche.
Among people I interact with, there seems to be sort of a peak of arrogance among people who are very good in a narrow area in their 20s and 30s, while famous people in their 40s or 50s are often quite humble and generous in their evaluation of other people. At CS conferences, for example, you don't find folks like Donald Knuth asking pedantic dick questions very often, but you do find the "ugh how could anybody not have read [x], did you even do any research?" type attitudes from junior profs and grad students.