"Hell is other people." Jean-Paul Sartre
I'm sure if he were working today, he would have amended it to include "other people's code" and "other people's data"
The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
61–70 of 124 posts
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#62I think it has more to do with the prison-syndrome of being forced into a social situation with people you don't like--much like we do to children in schools--than it does to this concept of paying-forward nastiness applied to them. Programmers are a diverse group of people, they aren't all nerds who got picked on in school.
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#63I have seen more of people being nice when they shouldn't. Perhaps on balance that's a better work environment, but I really don't like seeing subpar or even downright crappy work being overlooked because it would be mean to point out that it's crappy. The world is full of jerks. Being jerks is their problem, not yours. That's how I feel about it, anyway. Jerks don't hurt me, they hurt themselves.
You can, nicely, ask if someone's considered doing it in another (better) way rather than pointing out that it's crappy.
One may, but that wouldn't be "nice", which is what I was talking about. Being able to critique something without being rude is certainly important for professionals, though.
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#64Welcome to life. I've been wondering how the "everyone is special" and "everyone wins!" trends that people have been teaching their children would manifest. This looks like a good example. If you do anything that other people will see, some of them will criticize you. That's just life and not necessarily a bad thing. There isn't enough room for everyone to be special and winners. In order for someone to win someone e…
And we introspect on why there are not many women in this industry. I guess women should all just get a thick skin and stop thinking they are special. Because any abuse they might perceive is illusory, and their bullies are actually superior in knowledge and are justified in acting like jerks whenever they feel like it. After all, this is a meritocracy, how could it be otherwise? Whatever you get, you deserved.
I don't know where you get this sexist notion that women are delicate flowers who can't handle criticism, disagreement, or personality conflict in the workplace.
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
when I hear too many platitudes or niceties that are designed to pad out critical analysis, my ears shut off and the person delivering the analysis loses credibility in my mind. What some people find easy to ingest, others find insulting and will reject it. It is my perception (and this may or may not be correct) think that people who are often too concerned with seeming nice - are going to be exactly the people who…
There's a large middle ground between saccharine niceness and vicious back-stabbing. I find that someone who doesn't work well with emotions is typically bad at reasoning too, because the arguments they make end up expressing their feelings in obtuse ways.
> I find that someone who doesn't work well with emotions is typically bad at reasoning too, because the arguments they make end up expressing their feelings in obtuse ways.
This is an interesting explanation. Do you think that people bad at understanding their emotions are less aware or mindful of their unconscious biases?
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#66a lot of people not only software developer are jerks.
But i have a tip for you:
If you can ignore them!
If you can just don't listen,speak or do anything with them.
if you must listen to them get a job somewhere else!
Life is to short to spend it with jerks!
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#67Replace Software Development with any job and you are really on to something. People are mean and jerks are everywhere. Perhaps somehow society has convinced us otherwise, but there are a lot of terrible people out there. A lot of people do evil things, a lot of people hurt other people. This is not new and it's not a secret, people for whatever reason are more oblivious to it than they should be or perhaps people ar…
I tend to agree with the article... while people can be mean anywhere, seems like there's a certain confluence of characteristics and circumstances that allows "jerks" to have an outsize place in the tech industry. But I suppose to look on the bright side, I'd rather have somebody be a jerk to my face, even if it is subtle and insidious, than have them pretend to be my buddy and then stab me in the back. I'll take be…
It's weird because when I imagine a young kid who is going to grow up to be a software developer, I tend to imagine the kid who gets picked on, not the one who's picking on people. I wonder why the tables turn.
FTA
> It is sort of a “kick the dog” syndrome where software developers who were kicked earlier in life, or even earlier in their careers, tend to feel justified in kicking the programmers who they see beneath them.
This is what I tend to suspect, also.
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#68Replace Software Development with any job and you are really on to something. People are mean and jerks are everywhere. Perhaps somehow society has convinced us otherwise, but there are a lot of terrible people out there. A lot of people do evil things, a lot of people hurt other people. This is not new and it's not a secret, people for whatever reason are more oblivious to it than they should be or perhaps people ar…
I might be wrong but I think the average jerkyness has been in decline over the last 10 years. Now that CS is not entirely comprised of the geekiest of the geekiest, there are a few well balanced people present, means that employers have more options, and they increasingly want nice people.
10-15 years ago the internet was just for geeks, but now everyone uses the internet, and and now business people want to learn how to code instead of locking us up in basements. So I am encouraged that the aggressive know-it-all might be slowly going extinct.
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#69Just commenting to say, that in our profession WITHOUT licensure there is not other way to really prove that we're competent except for our reputation.
This leads to big egos and constantly trying to make your self look better no matter what.
If we were a licensed profession like medicine where you have a third party proof of your competence and you weren't constantly trying to guard your reputation, I bet you that it would lighten people up a lot.
Re: The Dark Side Of Software Development That No One Talks About
#70"Hell is other people." Jean-Paul Sartre
Perhaps a more apt quote would be from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations:
"The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil."