Some people seem to think that being smart and being really good at their jobs means that it’s okay to be a Grade-A Asshole. Like most of us, I’ve ...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
Ambrose, the problem is that in our community, a "humble developer" is considered a "mediocre developer". You know what I mean?
So such a mentality drives lots of developers to belittle other developers' work/code, and to make themselves appear as "alpha males".
The solution is simple: accept them and ignore them. Don't let Mr. Jerk bother you. Why should he have such a power over you? You be as good as you are and let them be. Then, a good rookie developer would idolize you, not the jerk. Be an inspiration to a newbie, and you'd already have won the war over the jerk!
This just spoke directly to my soul. Thank you.
Intelligence is valued way too much in the industry, since everything is so result driven. I admire intelligence. But I admire attitude even more. The people who earn most of my respect might not be the smartest on the team. But they manage to get things done even when they don't have the knowledge to the problem.
I learned this one the hard way:
I was in my first year of my first software engineering gig, and I ran into some code that I disapproved of. In my next one-on-one meeting with my manager, I ranted about how gross it was and how it needed the fix I implemented so badly. He asked me which part of the codebase I was talking about, and then his face fell - "Oh... yeah, sorry, that was me a few years ago."
I felt awful - from that point on, I've tried to start from a place of understanding. Every time something similar happens to me, I look back on that moment and remember where I was then.
What a moment!
Note to myself: run
git blamebefore criticize other's code.It even could be mine and I totally forgot it.
haha just kidding.
This problem is a cultural problem in our community, we see companies claiming they need ninja/wizard/unicorn developers, devs who solved a big problem or built a success product and think they're a genius, people who can't even receive a compliment without inflating their ego, te developer community is a TOXIC place in lots of ways (i'll not even start saying about people who think that they're better 'cause they spend 15 hours daily programming in their work and value more the job than family/healt/personal interests).
But the open-source community is changing this, people are learning to help, to teach and contribute to other people projects without feeling they're a special snowflake who knows everything. I see people who act as a jerk having less space everyday in the community. LET'S CHANGE THAT CULTURE.
You got it 100% right!
Thanks for you immensely insightful article. I can tell from my experience that the job market NEEDS this.
I know so many people in our industry which are full of themselves. Not so many are being rewarded from being humble and selfless, but most are from simply delivering results so we are creating more brats that helpful people.
But we can change it! There is hope.
Like the guy in the $3200 suit is going to read your post..
Come on!!
Great article! I see my journey in a lot of your points. I can look back and see pretty clearly the ignorant overconfidence that comes with a few early successes -- the Dunning-Kruger effect. As well as falsely attributing someone's actions to malice rather than the unintentional circumstances they actually were -- Hanlon's Razor.
Your tips are spot on. But the person has to want to improve. For some of us this only comes after failures, when we realize our strategy doesn't work, and something's got to change. So if you can hear me right now, learn from the post's advice rather than by experience... it's much easier for everyone involved including yourself. :)
As a recovering asshole I'd say you've hit the nail on the head.