So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#21

Post by ogoutay » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

treatpeoplewell wrote: post #11

I literally created a Hacker News account solely for the purpose of observing that this is a terrible article and the author should feel terrible for writing it. The idea that social maladaptation and/or rudeness is some sort of marker for talent is garbage, and wrong. Furthermore, the idea that talent is or should be an EXCUSE for social maladaptation or rudeness is ALSO garbage, and wrong.

Agreed for the talentrudeness. The whole manager vs hacker thing is also terrible.

Of course there are some bad managers, as much as there are bad hackers (and bad coworkers etc...). There are also some really good ones.

World is not black and white, more like 50 shades of grey (OMG I should be slapped for this joke).

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#22

Post by maxxxxx » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

mikeymz wrote: post #10

Generalisations never stand up to scrutiny and (like this article) tend to be a bit niave

The article is not totally wrong but it goes into stereotypes way too much. I have seen managers and hackers all over the introvert/extrovert spectrum. Maybe hackers are on average a little more introvert but not to the level that this generalization is useful. Alan Kay's "more ways to kill the golden goose" is more helpful.

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#23

Post by adricnet » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 4:49 PM UTC

Thanks for the share. I enjoyed this article and may be able to put some of it to work. I don't quite understand all of the negative responses.

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#24

Post by toastking » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 5:42 PM UTC

treatpeoplewell wrote: post #11

I literally created a Hacker News account solely for the purpose of observing that this is a terrible article and the author should feel terrible for writing it. The idea that social maladaptation and/or rudeness is some sort of marker for talent is garbage, and wrong. Furthermore, the idea that talent is or should be an EXCUSE for social maladaptation or rudeness is ALSO garbage, and wrong.

You hit on something important which is there's a difference between being a programmer and being a programmer on a team. Working together on something creative like a codebase or a design is a whole different set of skills that's arguable more important than just being good at programming.

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#25

Post by noonespecial » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 6:07 PM UTC

34k5uoi5ui wrote: post #9

All that bible crap turned me off. 'Religious' hackers are only fooling themselves. Religion is anti-hacker.

If it's relevant to the discussion, what difference does it make if he quotes St. Paul or Benjamin Sisko?

It's not cool to bag on others religious beliefs, especially when it feels like you're manufacturing the reason to do so.

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#26

Post by hasbroslasher » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 6:25 PM UTC

What the hell is this? "There are two kinds of people" reductionist nonsense with some "10x engineer" nonsense AND some "you should let people play video games at work" nonsense thrown in to boot?

Anyways, this strange "2 kinds of people" logic never fits in the real world. My old manager was a hacker by this guy's understanding, and he did both roles well. And not all "hackers" are actually all that good at actual software engineering - they might be interested, interesting, different, etc. but they don't ALWAYS ooze productivity and talent. People exist on a spectrum that stupid blog posts like this eschew in favor of punchy, compact worldviews that appeal to people ("managers") who don't have time to understand people personally.

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#27

Post by orev » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 8:58 PM UTC

treatpeoplewell wrote: post #11

I literally created a Hacker News account solely for the purpose of observing that this is a terrible article and the author should feel terrible for writing it. The idea that social maladaptation and/or rudeness is some sort of marker for talent is garbage, and wrong. Furthermore, the idea that talent is or should be an EXCUSE for social maladaptation or rudeness is ALSO garbage, and wrong.

Many people see successful people who are socially maladjusted and try to emulate the maladjustment part in hopes of replicating the success. Correlation causation

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#28

Post by joker3 » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:19 PM UTC

The description of this article should be updated with the date (1999).

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#29

Post by WalterSear » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 1:21 AM UTC

orev wrote: post #27

treatpeoplewell wrote: post #11

I literally created a Hacker News account solely for the purpose of observing that this is a terrible article and the author should feel terrible for writing it. The idea that social maladaptation and/or rudeness is some sort of marker for talent is garbage, and wrong. Furthermore, the idea that talent is or should be an EXCUSE for social maladaptation or rudeness is ALSO garbage, and wrong.

Many people see successful people who are socially maladjusted and try to emulate the maladjustment part in hopes of replicating the success. Correlation causation

Are you saying I bought all these black turtleneck sweaters for nothing?!?

Re: So, You’ve Hired a Hacker (2016)

#30

Post by BrandoElFollito » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 12:38 PM UTC

While the article is poorly written, it highlights the fact that there may be genuine differences in the way the two categories work.

I am a hacker at heart. At 47 I learn everyday, challenge developers all the time and spend an inconsiderate time building more or less useless IoT devices.

I am also a very senior manager for 20 years. I managed all kind of people but it was always vastly easier to manage hackers than standard (and good) employees. I usually say at interview time that I am not a good manager and expect people to be very independent.

I am also in this incredibly lucky situation to have a fantastic boss who somehow understands this (he is extremely intelligent but not a hacker at all). I believe that companies would gain a lot matching hackers-managers with hackers, something which rarely happens.