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The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

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Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#361

Post by bsder »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #338
bsder wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "You're out of your depth." Except most of the time ... they are not. Most non-junior WNs learn to have significant respect for those doing the work . The Weird Nerd judges based upon objectively observed behavior rather than social cues or group opinions. Mostly, the Weird Nerd gets in trouble because they simply aren't fooled. And that pisses of corporatocrats like you worse than anything else. The WN can see tha…

I have been in a meeting where the weird nerd is saying "our company should completely ditch customer support phone lines and only use a chat service because I don't know anyone who wants to make a phone call". This company was a utility that had customers with every level of literacy and internet access. He was mindbogglingly wrong, because he had no idea there was information in the world that he hadn't come across…

And, ironically, I had the exact opposite conversation where we kept paying money to fund customer support phone lines that had one call in 6 months because the sales and marketing team couldn't conceive of the fact that nobody under 30 (our primary demographic) wanted to use voice anymore and were screaming for an app/webapp chat of some form.

Not knowing your customers isn't unique to engineers.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#362

Post by theK »

> We need her in the lab, not at fancy dinners.

I think it is naive to take such a stance. This is the thinking that leads to layers of management, institutional bloat, non experts with MBAs calling shots and ultimately loss of the opportunity to fund genius as it becomes all the blurier who really has the vision and capability and who is just good with filling out grant applications.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#363

Post by wisty »

bradleyjg wrote: post #236
akozak wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This won't be a satisfying answer (and won't work for startups), but the solution I saw most frequently was to assign them dedicated diplomats or maintain a middle mgmt class who are well suited to coddle them, absorb most of their emotional energy, and channel it productively (or not) into the wider institution.

That’s been my experience as well. But these minders are not cheap. They need to be smart enough to win the respect of their assigned WNs, charismatic enough to smooth everyone else’s ruffled feathers, patient, and have thick skins. Definitely worth it for a Nobel Prize level intellect but I’m not sure how far below that the line is.

The teenagers working at the local McDonalds do a fine job modifying some truly unpleasant people.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#364

Post by fragmede »

intended wrote: post #354
faeriechangling wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked this elsewhere but will ask this here - does calling people autistic and medicalising actually prevent misery, depression, and suicide? This whole thought that autistic people who appear to have no problems are all secretly on the verge of not just burnout, but AUTISTIC burnout and will tailspin into the nether at any moment is a recent idea I have yet to see any actual evidence of other than self-report. The…

There is survivorship bias at play as well. Theres people who go in and DONT get diagnosed with ASD, but get found out to be having other issues, ranging from endocrine to trauma. The evidence for treatment is the improvement in quality of life for people who do manage to get help. The control would be people whose challenges make their lives, and the lives of those around them, harder.

The literal survivorship bias is from those who've managed to not commit suicide.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#365

Post by throwaway2037 »

tqi wrote: post #328

The idea that IQ and EQ are negatively correlated is dubious at best. I would venture a guess that the vast majority of "Weird Nerds" are not Katalin Karikós, and instead are simply difficult jerks who are not nearly as smart as they think they are. Hubris mixed with obstinance is a recipe for misanthropy. Also, the notion that the internet is a place where your outputs are judged solely on their merits, so that you…

Your last paragraph is interesting. When I think back about at Perl, Python, and Ruby, all of them have/had charismatic leaders -- Larry Wall, Guido van Rossum, and Yukihiro Matsumoto. This would help to explain part of the success of their programming languages. My guess: All three of them have high IQ and EQ. To be clear: I don't write this post to take anything away from the incredible accomplishments of those people. Rather, I am trying to say that having a good personality (and probably higher EQ) only helped their cause.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#366

Post by azernik »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #365
tqi wrote: post #328

The idea that IQ and EQ are negatively correlated is dubious at best. I would venture a guess that the vast majority of "Weird Nerds" are not Katalin Karikós, and instead are simply difficult jerks who are not nearly as smart as they think they are. Hubris mixed with obstinance is a recipe for misanthropy. Also, the notion that the internet is a place where your outputs are judged solely on their merits, so that you…

Your last paragraph is interesting. When I think back about at Perl, Python, and Ruby, all of them have/had charismatic leaders -- Larry Wall, Guido van Rossum, and Yukihiro Matsumoto. This would help to explain part of the success of their programming languages. My guess: All three of them have high IQ and EQ. To be clear: I don't write this post to take anything away from the incredible accomplishments of those peo…

I would even argue that Linus Torvalds's famous abrasiveness is its own kind of charisma, well adapted to its target audience.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#367

Post by azernik »

dukeyukey wrote: post #121
Loughla wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what you're saying here.

The comment above mine said "Academia pays absolutely terribly for an elite job". But earning doesn't really come into a truly elite (status-wise) job, because the person doing it doesn't need to earn to live.

The top comment claimed "academia today is essentially a machine for amassing status and money".

Pointing out that it pays terribly is completely on point.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#368

Post by intended »

gavinhoward wrote: post #333
skulk wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen your monorepo and it's definitely impressive. How are you going about acquiring clients though? It's not like I have any advice but I'm curious what you've tried.

Thank you for your compliment! Blog post marketing, mostly. I am about to start a podcast for marketing as well. I would do conferences, but people have advised against that.

Just checking - have you considered switching projects, with your next project being social engineering your sales? (Cold turkey switch, not "let me get these features added, before I switch projects" etc.)

Its quite possible you have thought of this, but I cant be sure. If you have thought or acted on it, how long were you able to sustain it?

Being able to switch your obsession is something we are able to do, but it does require time and thinking.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#369

Post by SillyUsername »

I'm probably somewhat autistic and introverted in that I often don't care (much) about other people's opinion unless backed by fact proving I am wrong.

Societal niceties are difficult to navigate as I just can't predict the effects of what people do as a consequence of what I say and personal opinion may not be grounded in fact.

For example the job interview, technically I have no issues at all, but initially I did not know the "right" way to behave in them, and I would come across arrogant (statement of fact comparing oneself's achievements to others invariably tend to do this). I expected to be hired based on technical merit and that I am generally amenable.

I wasn't hired until I started manipulating the interview, faux humble, quiet, hiding smaller achievements, exactly the kind of thing you're taught in school is the opposite of what to do.

I'd also investigate the interviewers to find out their interests and hobbies for leverage e.g. they like paint balling, ok, I don't do that but I can use some of their common phrases in parlance "by accident" and without giving away my background research on the interviewer.

I shouldn't have to do this, and I despise it (mainly from resentment of the process) but the results speak for themselves. In 4 interviews since I started it I've landed all 4 jobs.

Side note: I'm wondering what will happen with this comment will people downvote because it's showing I'm manipulative in interviews, or up vote due to agreement / feeling the same way. Obviously I want the latter as I like points, but society (perhaps not community) tends to go the other way when you speak uncomfortable truths.

Re: The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs

#370

Post by intended »

corinroyal wrote: post #352
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #219

I'm a bit "spectrumish." It's definitely way better, this late in life, than it was, when I was younger, but it's still there, if you know what to look for (my wife knows what to look for). One aspect of it, that has always been a part of the package, is that folks Just. Don't. Like. Me. Most, if questioned about their dislike, may come up with a couple of things, like "He's abrupt," or "He's arrogant," but these are…

> "He's abrupt," or "He's arrogant," ... "angry bastard." It sounds like those are totally fixable personality defects, yet here you are acting persecuted and making excuses. What if you didn't blame other people and instead took responsibility for your own off-putting behavior? I've worked with too many men who think they're too special to follow social etiquette, when they are actually just garden-variety jerks who…

Why did you write that? You come across as insensitive, and likely someone who hasn't put the effort to understand the comment and the context.

It's far too easy to conclude that you aren't heeding your own advice. Was this some next level attempt to show what being a bully magnet looks like?

I don't understand.

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