51–60 of 98 posts
"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
2. If you're right and they are wrong. Shut up and listen.
3. If they make you feel uncomfortable, be bold.
4. If they get emotional or unprofessional, steer the conversation into cold-blooded, calculated facts.
5. When dealing with regular Joe, don't waste time. Extract needed information and get it over with.
6. If it is a group conversation or meeting, only speak to make a point. Keep it short.
Perhaps this only applies to programmers dealing with other programmers and on occasion managers. One thing for sure, in my line of work, dealing with people is about extracting/exchanging information. Having a personality, being emotional is pointless. The goal is to get shit done. Leave your pride at the door.
However, in my personal life, I try not to be like a human vending machine of information.
I 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…
There's a lot of ways programmers can be arrogant: * Black-and-white feedback. Software is very black and white. Your dietitian can tell you to "reduce your sugar intake" instead of telling you you're fat because you drink so much cola. There's no way to sugar coat "you pressed the wrong button, and now you have to start over", unless you want to point out that the programmer who make the stupid program must have bee…
Would love to know what the current theory is. (The article was in some Geo or National Geographic magazine, a while after "Collapse" came out).
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…
While I don't recall any such encounter with any programmer, I have observed many icon-dragging, button-clicking arrogant pricks that called themselves programmers because lave learned that clicking the third button from the second group in the toolbar turns whatever they mashed together into an executable file.
To the average user, such a beast is absolutely indistinguishable from a real programmer and, so, the confusion is understandable.
;-)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Arrogance is about the way they deliver the feedback. For some, diplomacy is hard since they can't understand why others fail to meet their technical/knowledge/... expectations. At work, I'm surrounded by smart people. They often outsmart me but a common trap they fall into is not doing enough meta thinking. They seem stuck on level 1 of things.
You are describing it as a mere packaging problem but I think it goes deeper than that. I think arrogance is exemplified by being closed-minded, refusing to even consider the other persons point of view. And once you do that you will almost always moderate your statements, whereas those that think they are structurally in the right do not feel the need to do so, they will treat the rest of the world as though they're…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But I think it's fair to say that you are not the norm.
Why shouldn't it be the norm though, this reminds me of my favorite Robert Heinlein quote: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty…
Jus' sayin'.
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Arrogance is about the way they deliver the feedback. For some, diplomacy is hard since they can't understand why others fail to meet their technical/knowledge/... expectations. At work, I'm surrounded by smart people. They often outsmart me but a common trap they fall into is not doing enough meta thinking. They seem stuck on level 1 of things.
You are describing it as a mere packaging problem but I think it goes deeper than that. I think arrogance is exemplified by being closed-minded, refusing to even consider the other persons point of view. And once you do that you will almost always moderate your statements, whereas those that think they are structurally in the right do not feel the need to do so, they will treat the rest of the world as though they're…
While your definition of arrogance is not bad at all, I will offer a variation: refusing to consider the possibility that one might be wrong.
I used to be one of those smart, arrogant people myself (arguably smart, anyway; certainly arrogant). I have found the conscious practice of humility to be very valuable.