The context for this question seems to be about online interactions. IMO most everyone tends to be more rude online than in real life. It is sadly much easier to be offensive online, whether purposely or not. Some factors:
matter of fact statement without inflection or facial expression to gauge its intend
colloquialisms of one area found offensive in others
rude as a defense mechanism (because of other rude people online)
hurting people are more likely to respond and be hurtful
online can reach a lot of people, someone somewhere is always hurting
anonymity being a shield from consequences
Developers additionally tend to have specific experience in what and how they are coding. The internet exposes them to other circumstances that challenge what they currently know to be the "correct" way to do something. It becomes easy to get into arguments. If both people work through the disagreement in good faith, they would come to an agreement: what each of them is doing is right for their own specific circumstances. But often people prefer bumper-sticker-sized dismissive statements because learning new things is hard. And understanding another person's perspective is even harder. It is easier for your mind to just dismiss them and filter out their statements as invalid. So you can imagine that discussions in a highly technical field are rife for arguments, and probably-never-meet-you context of online does not encourage patience or working through issues. I know I've wasted quite a bit of time "correcting" and being corrected by people on the internet.
So no, I don't think developers are jerks. I think a lot of people are jerks in general. Our field naturally leads to a lot of disagreements in discussions. And any of us can be jerks if caught on bad days. We could all be benefited by giving a measure of grace to each other.
http://perpetual.education is a design/programming school. We like to be part of the discussion over here at Dev.to / We have time-slots for free conversations for career advice IRL : )
The context for this question seems to be about online interactions. IMO most everyone tends to be more rude online than in real life. It is sadly much easier to be offensive online, whether purposely or not. Some factors:
Developers additionally tend to have specific experience in what and how they are coding. The internet exposes them to other circumstances that challenge what they currently know to be the "correct" way to do something. It becomes easy to get into arguments. If both people work through the disagreement in good faith, they would come to an agreement: what each of them is doing is right for their own specific circumstances. But often people prefer bumper-sticker-sized dismissive statements because learning new things is hard. And understanding another person's perspective is even harder. It is easier for your mind to just dismiss them and filter out their statements as invalid. So you can imagine that discussions in a highly technical field are rife for arguments, and probably-never-meet-you context of online does not encourage patience or working through issues. I know I've wasted quite a bit of time "correcting" and being corrected by people on the internet.
So no, I don't think developers are jerks. I think a lot of people are jerks in general. Our field naturally leads to a lot of disagreements in discussions. And any of us can be jerks if caught on bad days. We could all be benefited by giving a measure of grace to each other.
Great thoughts! These things should be taught.