
SuperHappyDevHouse - progrium
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.ryotakahashi.com/blog/archives/21
======
sophacles
So wait... I know plenty of carpenters who go home and make cabinets.

I know a welder who makes cool stuff like grills and roasters in his spare
time for fun.

Plenty of photographers don't even pretend there is a difference between work
and play.

Same for musicians.

Mathematicians don't make math jokes all the time, but the annoyingly approach
everything as if it was a math problem (insert spherical cow joke here).

On the other side: this guy has had the luckiest interactions with the
bureaucrats ever. I seem to always get met with derision and snide comments
for asking things like "how do i turn this in?" or "this vaguely labeled field
doesn't make sense, what do you want here" and so on.

I've heard accountants throw around jargon as bad or worse than programmers,
particularly during tax season.

Lawyers love lawyer jokes and lawyer culture.

So what the hell is this guy's problem? Why doesn't he just quit and do
something he likes instead of whine about it like a petulant child?

~~~
possibilistic
Sounds like he doesn't enjoy cocky, arrogant behavior. (Not that there's
anything wrong with that.) Maybe his personality is orthogonal to that which
he surrounds himself by...

I think this issue has more to do with personality than "culture".

~~~
jqueryin
I don't know; to me it sounds like he got himself into the wrong profession.
He's not the least bit passionate about his work.

~~~
tseabrooks
You seem to be confusing passion with talent / ability / skill. Perhaps he's
very very good at it... It's the thing he is best at. Should he not do
something he is great, for the sake of argument, at just because he doesn't
have passion for it?

~~~
T-R
He's definitely hurting both himself and the people he works with, both from
the fact that he's not likely to work to improve himself, and from his
depression/frustration and the fact that it's manifesting as resentment
towards his coworkers. I don't mean to attack him, it's just that in
collaborative work that requires skill (read: practice), a bad team member can
be worse than having one too few. If it really is what he's best at, then he
really needs to start practicing something he actually does enjoy, or find
some way to enjoy it enough to practice.

------
alex_c
What a... strange set of complaints. It's one of those things that is so
fascinating to read because I can't understand what he doesn't understand.

I get the part about arrogance and looking down on people with less knowledge
or skill. There's a certain "macho" aspect to the culture that does bother me.

But I'm baffled by his confusion that people enjoy doing this outside their
job. Granted, the passion to create and the enjoyment derived from it isn't
shared by everyone, but it's not THAT uncommon - no one bats an eye at artists
practicing their craft "in their spare time", or people who enjoy tinkering or
building random stuff around the house - again, "in their spare time". It's a
craft, and many people who pick up a craft because they enjoy doing it...
enjoy doing it.

~~~
dfgdfgdfg
Exactly. He compared it to accounting. This is the most common fallacy I come
across day to day. People just don't understand that programming is a creative
sport. Not mathematically dry as this blogger percieves. Instead of
accountants discussing form 4686, programmers gathering would be more like
artists gathering to discuss ideas and make art together over a weekend.

People really need to start seeing programming as a creative thing. But then
he's just a software engineer.

~~~
svlla
accounting can get pretty creative sometimes.

~~~
mc32
Also, tax laws change yearly, so it's not as static as some might believe it
to be.

------
andrewvc
TL;DR The fact that other people find programming to be fun angers and upsets
me. Additionally, I feel inferior when talking to them, therefore they should
stop having fun.

~~~
ericdschmidt
This isn't a fair summary.

~~~
metachris
I actually had the impression this is a pretty accurate tl;dr. The 'feeling
inferior' part is maybe a bit exaggerated, but he definitely doesn't
understand why people would enjoy getting together on a weekend for a social
hacking session.

~~~
_delirium
I don't much like the post, but a charitable partial reading would be
something like: I feel left out of / alienated by hacker culture because,
although I'm a programmer by trade, their culture isn't really my culture. It
wasn't phrased like that, but it is a fairly common sentiment in a lot of
fields.

I even have it somewhat in mine, though it's more of there being multiple
cultures and me being part of a less-dominant one: I research AI in
videogames, but am not really part of "gamer culture", though I do play and
study games extensively. I just tend to prefer playing and analyzing more
simulation / indie / art types of games, and historically important games, and
don't really keep up on recent AAA titles or feel part of the Penny Arcade /
Kotaku culture. Sometimes that leads to awkwardness if people expect that
everyone who studies videogames is "a gamer" in that cultural sense, so I
could see a way that there could be programmers, even good ones, alienated by
hacker culture if they feel it's assumed they'd be part of it, but they
aren't.

~~~
Lewisham
This is a _very_ charitable reading :)

I knew people like this. I worked in a database consultancy full of them. They
eventually drove _me_ out, because I couldn't connect to them on any level.
They had no excitement for computers, or technology, or anything they did.
They had a job, and they did that job (usually poorly, but the two boss guys
were legitimately good at what they did, so were able to set out the database
schemas and such so nothing got too fubar'd later on). They're the sort of
people who say "a job's a job" and can sit at a desk from 9-5 doing pretty
much anything as long as a pay check arrives.

What surprised me about people like this is that I always ascribed the ability
to do a job in that manner as something that required a lower intelligence
quotient: you had to be OK when presented with broken processes, manual tasks
that are easily automated, and have little real pride in the product you
produce. I thought this sort of stuff would drive reasonably smart people mad.
But here they were, reasonably smart people, who just didn't care. They were
all a product of CS when it was the "money" degree, like BioChem is now. The
smart choice they made was "If I don't give a shit about any job I could
possibly do, I may as well be paid decently for it." The author even says "I
also have no idea what job I'd do otherwise," even though he clearly dislikes
what he's doing.

The author is alienated because he doesn't give a shit, and he's found himself
in a position where that isn't status quo. A lot of the posts here are
surprised he's got this far; which I think shows HN's fairly biased
population. There are loads of programmers who don't care. They aren't working
in the Valley at companies you respect, because to be talented enough here
requires passion (he seems to indicate he's in the Valley, but that doesn't
mean he's at a company you respect ;) ) But someone, somewhere is coding crap
bespoke software, and all those CS grads that aren't in the Valley are getting
hired by someone. It's easy to forget all these people when you live in hacker
communities like the Bay Area, Portland, NYC etc.

------
dlsspy
Guy who doesn't like programming doesn't like events for people who are
passionate about programming.

The largest tags on this blog are "PS3" and "Xbox 360". To the question, "Why
would you get together and write code, when you could do anything else?" I
would ask, "Why would you sit around and play video games when you could do
something meaningful and lasting?"

~~~
m0tive
I don't think you can use his blog tags as an analysis of his life. He only
has _four_ posts tagged PS3 and _three_ posts tagged Xbox 360.

~~~
dlsspy
No, and I'm not trying to judge his interests. I'm just pointing out that I'd
be equally frustrated by a night with people he'd be hanging out with if that
did accurately reflect anything.

We all have different interests.

------
callahad
Wow. It sounds like the author perceived folks talking about topics outside of
his own expertise to be "showing off their knowledge," or "using a bunch of
technical jargon to make others feel dumb." That view was probably reinforced
by his questions being met with hostile and elitist responses. Arrogance and
condescension are issues that I've seen repeatedly in our community, but
ascribing malice to individuals visibly enjoying their work? That sits solely
on the author's shoulders.

So why the disdain? From the comparisons to mathematicians and accountants, it
sounds like the author views programming solely as an occupation, and doesn't
see the possibility for it to be a creative avocation. Thus, continued
discussion of the topic outside of the workplace must be an attempt to assert
superiority over the others in the room.

But what if you instead make comparisons to other overtly creative pursuits?
Professional artists frequently collaborate, musicians have jam sessions, and
pastry chefs still participate in cookie exchanges. And is an accountant
saying "You don’t know what a Form 4868 is?" really so unimaginable when
reframed as one baker discovering that another doesn't know how to proof
yeast?

The author himself finds beauty and craftsmanship in his fruit tart recipe
"the fresh fruit on top makes it look really pretty and colorful, and yet it’s
deceptively simple to make." What he fails to realize is that many others see
the same beauty, the same joy, and the same sense of craftsmanship in a well-
designed algorithm.

------
ssharp
I don't think most comments here are being fair.

I avoided socializing with the vast majority of my CS peers in college because
I didn't enjoy their "culture" very much. Maybe its too stereotypical, but for
the most part the people were self-centered in a strange way, lacked a lot of
social tact, and had too much bad taste in a lot of things - movies, music,
clothes, women, etc. much for my liking. I can't recall having that many
interesting conversations with classmates. Even when we were discussing
technology, there was too much ignorant bravado and not enough quality debate.

When I started my career, I was placed with other younger programmers and we
generally worked well together, exploring solutions, researching technologies,
etc. That was my favorite time in the field. We were all unpretentious and
actually spent time learning things and discussing them in a rational manner.

It was pretty much a complete 180 from my experience with programmers in
college.

I have a few too many scattered hobbies and pursuits to want to spend large
chunks of my personal time on the computer programming but I don't fault those
who do, especially the ones working on projects that inspire others. I also
don't fault the person who wrote the article. I think he's stuck with bad
peers and hasn't yet found a team that works well for him yet.

~~~
haploid
Just so I'm clear on your comment regarding your CS peers; you came into
contact with people who were socially underdeveloped due to lack of social
experiences, and as a result you chose to deny them social experiences.

Yeah, it was totally their fault. What a bunch of assholes.

~~~
ssharp
Is the harsh tone necessary?

I wasn't describing loners or anything like that. They had plenty of social
experience. It was just a different culture and the culture wasn't
particularly attractive to "outsiders".

As for "denying" them anything, I'm not sure what.

The main point I was trying to get across was that there are all sorts of
people in the field. Not everyone is the same, even if your experiences lead
you to believe otherwise.

------
edw519
_I just wonder why software engineering is like this._

 _Everything_ is like this.

I have a brother who is in the energy business, another who is a lawyer, and a
sister who is in the sports business. They all see the world through their
eyes and can't understand why everyone else doesn't too. Every get-together is
full of talk about deep drilling, legal precedents, taxpayer funded arenas,
and, of course, politics. While I just have another beer and actually look
forward to a debate about hashing algorithms and scaling strategies.

~~~
timr
_"Everything is like this."_

No, it isn't.

I know a lot of people, too: doctors, lawyers, businessmen, researchers,
artists. And while all of them will fill dead conversational time with
discussions about their day job, it's rarely their first preference. In my
experience, most people are _dying_ to have a conversation about something
other than work.

I don't think a lot of nerds get this.

~~~
dkarl
Doctors, lawyers, and scientists hate talking about work, but they love
talking about medicine, law, and science. Talking about a subject they love is
different from talking about why their boss is mad at them and why their five
o'clock meeting ran over.

But then again, maybe that's because there are a lot of nerds in medicine,
law, and science.

~~~
timr
There's a _huge_ difference between talking about a subject in general, and
talking about a subject that you work with all day long. The former is
preferable to the latter. That's obvious.

But even so, you're still falling into the obsessive nerd trap: most people --
especially the really smart people -- _love it_ when you talk with them about
something other than what they do for a living, even if they're otherwise
content to talk to you about the general aspects of their profession. It's the
difference between being a forgettable conversationalist and a memorable one.

------
codenerdz
I both agree and disagree with this guy. When I was working for a big company,
working 9 to 6 and bringing home good income from that, I wouldnt fathom doing
hackathons on weekends or doing coding in the evening after doing it for 8
hours or more. Doing this for a number of years did wonders to my income, but
after a while I felt a lack of progress in both my overall knowledge(forced to
be knowledgeable within certain domain by work) and personal development(non-
code).

After co-founding a startup and taking a product from concept to shipped
state, I know what its like to jump into an unknown framework/language head
first, how to spawn prototypes of idea on a weekend. The school of startup
taught me more about business than an MBA probably could although it did
reduce my income significantly.

The state of this guys mind is understandable if you take into consideration
where he is in his development career. For his sake, if he is unhappy with his
work, I hope he finds a project or career path that makes him happy.

~~~
gte910h
I found it did not reduce my income, but added huge swings into it, all at the
same time taking out a majority of the truly socially annoying people.

------
cesarsalazar12
At first I was stunned. It had never occurred to me that there were people
that didn't like the cultural aspect of hacking/programming. But to be honest,
after a couple of minutes of trying to look at this with some perspective, I
can imagine what this guy feels. It has happened to me when I regard other
cultures, cinematographers for instance. I've always felt they are _way_ too
much into something that I regard as a simple thing. I usually feel they're
trying to outsmart me by saying "Oh, you didn't get the reference? I just saw
it coming!"

~~~
johnny22
I love hearing from specialists of all types. As long as folks aren't trying
too hard to be condescending, everything is cool.

Most folks know something about something and are just looking for a chance to
explain their passion to somebody who acts like they might care.

------
jhuckestein
So there's this math party and everyone came out to have a good time, tangent
is dancing with cosine, sine is having drinks and so on. Everyone is happy
except for the exponential function which is sitting in a corner all by
itself. Finally sine walks over and says "Hey e, why aren't you having fun
with all of us?" ... says the e-function: "Because I can't integrate myself!"

Ha! q.e.d.

~~~
rcfox
I've heard it better as: "I've tried to integrate myself, but nothing ever
happens."

(You can integrate e^x, but you end up with e^x.)

~~~
jhuckestein
Heh, point taken. Now it's up to you to come up with a build-up to your
punchline :)

~~~
jjs
No need; he's already reduced it to a previously-solved joke!

------
kitt
While I find this guy's attitude a little sad, in reality, he's just part of
the spectrum/bell curve of programmers. Some people love programming, enjoy
doing it, and think how amazing and fun it is to create something AND get paid
for it, too? Wow! Some people program as a job, and that's it. Despite what
the author suggests, some accountants love numbers enough to play with the
statistics after work hours, and good for them.

Programming can change the world, and starting a project over a weekend can be
the first step. Can't really change the world, even a little bit, if you don't
try.

So, yeah, this guy shouldn't go to SHDH. Doesn't mean we don't invite him. So,
he doesn't get it. Maybe the girl he brings with him will.

------
kevingadd

      ... and it became more disturbing. A tech journalist wrote about it like this:
      “That’s what we want to do for others- we want to enable them
      to come together for a common purpose to help humanity. We see different parts
      of technology as different elements that come together to create a key 
      that will unlock a door that will change the world.”
    

I cannot even begin to understand the mindset that would make someone find
that quote disturbing. Marketing-speak perhaps, sure. What's wrong with
changing the world?

~~~
ericdschmidt
Nothing is wrong with wanting to change the world. But you don't find the
language being used rather creepy? It really does sound like delusions of
grandeur. For a one-day event? There is nothing wrong with wanting to change
the world, but there is something wrong with hubris, ego, megalomania...

~~~
kevingadd
Delusions of grandeur, perhaps, but I don't see a problem with setting high
goals for SHDH. At the events I've gone to, I've seen people doing all sorts
of crazy shit - at one of them, someone was doing some sort of biotech
experiments with DNA and yogurt, and at another event, I saw an early version
of that Word Lens realtime translation app that came out on iOS a couple
months back. I think genetic engineering and realtime translation both have
the potential to change the world, don't you?

~~~
ericdschmidt
Ah, well first off I thought this event was just something these guys from his
job organized, like, at one of their houses.

But still. Even for a large event like that, the language he quoted in the
article was kinda creepy. I of course agree that at any time ideas can spark
and work can begin that will eventually have a large impact. I'm sure there
are CS conferences that use more sober language.

------
egometry
I have found SHDH to be the consistently least arrogant gathering of technical
people I partake in.

Arrogance (in my experience) tends to come from a small myopic subgroup where
outside ideas are shunned. SHDH is far too big and has far too many people who
like different things to have much of a cohesive snob element.

Nothing in common except that we're all people who hack in our spare time, and
he does seem to take some time describing that this worldview is alien to him
and that he doesn't enjoy being a software engineer...

------
rch
"In math class, on the other hand, people weren’t making jokes about triple
integrals, showing off their knowledge of differential equations..."

So, you've never taken real analysis then. Good to know.

------
jasonkester
I think that most of us here have trouble relating to this guy because we all
got into programming because we enjoyed it, and would do it even if we weren't
getting paid.

It's like spending your childhood jumping up and down on a trampoline and then
discovering that there were companies that would pay you six figures to jump
on a trampoline all day. It's like the _best job ever_ because you get to play
on that trampoline. And then you'd go home and jump on your trampoline because
that's your favorite thing to do.

I see people try to get in to computer programming by taking courses in
college, and all I can think is that it's not going to work. If you wanted to
program computers, you'd have a dozen years experience at it before you got to
college. If all you do is look at it as a career like accounting or civil
engineering, you're setting yourself up for a frustrating life.

------
krobertson
Sounds like a 9-5er. I met plenty of these when I was studying "CS" and really
discouraged me. Part of the reason I had no regret dropping out to join a
startup.

I do what I do because I love it. If someone doesn't get it, feel bad for
them.

------
gte910h
I totally get where he's coming from. It's an artifact of a bunch of low
social skills individuals way over identifying with possible solutions to a
problem and their ability to do some of these solutions and generally being
macho jerks. It may be especially related to americans (as the canadians I
know in the field are much nicer than the standout americans I remember, but
it might just be they're more well adjusted people than those memorably bad
enough to remember).

I also get that he doesn't understand you get a LOT of this sort of talk in
_any_ industry.

Additionally, while service professionals don't often "do their job" on the
weekend too (some do, volunteering to help charities/schools, etc, with their
professional skills), many do (Have you ever heard of Pro Bono lawyering?).

Almost _all_ craftspeople do obsess about their skills on their weekend. A
relative of mine who outfits/tools factories builds hotrods on the weekend,
mechanical engineers I know are gaga for building/designing stuff, artist
types are veritable fountains of sidework. Hell, even my wife (analyst for
charitable giving) analyzes the hell out board games and video games (which is
amusing, we know she will beat _all of us all the time_ after a few weeks of
play).

------
tseabrooks
I think this guys complaints are _somewhat_ valid... I've maybe echoed
something similar myself? Though, I think my primary complaint is that lots of
coders seem to think people who don't want to work on some OSS project / side
project during their free time can't be exceptional coders... This is the
attitude I find fairly pervasive(especially on HN) and personally
objectionable.

~~~
jarin
I can't think of a single good programmer I know who hasn't worked on at least
one open-source project or written things in their spare time.

Conversely, I can think of a lot of crappy programmers who have not ever
contributed to an open source project or even put together their own website.

~~~
georgieporgie
That observation does not validate, "coders seem to think people who don't
want to work on some OSS project / side project during their free time can't
be exceptional coders."

------
mtodd
[Commented on his blog but not sure if he'll approve, so I'm reposting it
here]:

It just seems like you're associating passion with unpleasantness. Does it
make you uncomfortable to be around people that enjoy what they are doing
passionately?

In my experience, I encounter very little douchebaggery in my community
interactions. I don't want to be a dick, but it may have to do with your own
view of your work (just a job, as opposed to a passion) that gets you around
more douchebags.

There are lots of alphas out there that do condescend and patronize, but
that's a characteristic (or character flaw) of that person, and not everyone.
It's just far more obvious and annoying when you're not that type of person.

Why don't you find something that you're actually interested in doing for
work?

------
elbrodeur
He's a professional who has forgotten -- or maybe never knew -- what it means
to be an amateur. To do it for the love of the thing.

He's exchanging units of time for units of currency; it's no wonder he doesn't
understand why people get excited about building things. It's no wonder he
doesn't understand the immense value generated by creating something new or
solving problems that are difficult.

It's also unsurprising that he thinks one person typing into a terminal can't
change the world.

"Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a
fortune." -Rohn

------
jimmyjazz14
The sort of culture thing only really becomes a problem when managers start
basing their hiring on it. I know plenty of amazing programmers who never
program in their spare time and don't have any popular open source projects
and it would be unfortunate for a manager to pass up such a candidate just
because they do not take part in the 'culture'. Other then that I can not
think of any logical beef one could really have with the programming culture
(though the jokes are a bit much sometimes).

------
exit
i think what distinguishes programming from say, accounting, is that it is a
creative field. you'll probably find a culture surrounding all creative
professions (cesarsalazar12 mentioned cinematographers as an example).

hmmm, on the other hand (and sadly) in an employment context most programming
is probably more akin to uncreative accounting. gluing apis together etc.

it just has the potential to be creative (universally creative? *church-turing
hypothesis), and this is what most programmers yearn for.

------
zaphar
can't even read it since it's currently asking for a login to wordpress. Has
he password protected it? or is the blog just malfunctioning?

~~~
mendable
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.ryo...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.ryotakahashi.com/blog/archives/21)

------
jgh
Did he take his blog down or something? It's presenting me with a WordPress
login screen...

~~~
jf
It would appear so.

------
jcromartie
What a stick in the mud. As I get older I find that I really _love_ this
stuff: the useful abstractions, abstract concepts, hard computer science,
cutting-edge math, and philosophy behind it all. It's just really enjoyable to
learn and explore. It is the part that keeps me coming back after the workday
drains me with the CRUD requirements and tedious bug fixes. And this guy wants
to take that part away?

~~~
edabobojr
When evaluating your coworker's abilities, do you judge their ability to
perform CRUD and tedious bug fixes or their knowledge of abstract concepts,
hard computer science, and cutting-edge math?

~~~
billswift
What makes you think they are necessarily so different? I'm not a programmer,
but in architectural and landscape design and installation there are lots of
broad, sweeping design principles and lots of tedious little detail work, and
I have observed that the same people tend to do well at both. The important
factors are self-discipline and enthusiasm. The enthusiasm to get you started
and the self-discipline to help keep you going between bouts of enthusiasm -
both to study the general principles (harder in design than in computers from
what I have seen - they are not as well codified as algorithms and data
structures are) and to keep working away at the tedious little (but so
necessary) details.

------
ookblah
Uh, maybe this guy was in a special math class because when I was in college
all the other majors had their own jokes around their subject matter.

------
juiceandjuice
This guy is really ranting about people who aren't well rounded, rather than
people who like programming a lot. I've seen the same thing in physics, math,
and even philosophy and music people I've hung out with.

So, I agree, people who aren't well rounded can be boring, and I don't
understand them, and I usually have trouble relating to them as people or
friends.

------
jpk
It doesn't matter what field you're in, if you're a douche, you're a douche. I
agree that snobbery among engineering professionals tends to seep into aspects
of life related to their careers more often than it does for other professions
(which is something I don't yet have an explanation for), but I think this is
just a case of skewed samples.

------
bluehat
"Wait, what? It’s a one-day event. How are you going to change the world in
one day? If they could really do that, then imagine what they could do in a
year. This sounds like someone with delusions of grandeur. Or a cult."

Perhaps I should leave him an invitation to visit Hacker Dojo and sign it?
Members use to get some pretty rad free haircuts...

------
noodle
sounds like he just doesn't enjoy his profession and is annoyed by those who
do.

------
duopixel
The difference between this guy and most hackers is that hackers see
programming as a method of _building stuff_. I'm pretty sure his day job must
involve "engineering" in the sense of connecting code and applying best
practices, but not to think and create products. There's no pride and no
ownership in that.

Of course accountants don't gather to bang some numbers, there's nothing to
create there. People get together for fun to shoot a film, build a house, or
have a stimulating conversation.

------
intellectronica
Looking at the rest of the blog makes me wonder, why does he think that it's
cool to be passionate about cakes or alcoholic drinks but not cool to be
passionate about technology?

------
zaccus
So this guy's coworkers are arrogant for engaging in shop-talk that is above
his current level of understanding? OK.

But instead of saying to himself, "gee, I should crack a book and learn about
this," he calls them asshats and demands that they don't discuss this stuff
around him.

Sounds to me like he's the arrogant one, projecting his shortcomings onto
others so he doesn't have to take responsibility for them. Like sophacles
generously said, he's behaving like a petulant child.

He must be an absolute joy to work with.

------
burrows
What I really don't understand is how someone like this even get's hired as a
developer. I'm assuming he either writes in-house software for a non-tech
company or is just another dud at Micro$.

It's also perplexing that he is either 1) completely unaware that people who
are passionate about their work take it home with them (think artists,
musicians, carpenters, mechanical engineers, etc.), or 2) has decided to
completely ignore this concept for the sake of this post.

Maybe he's trolling hn.

------
yalogin
Interesting. If he hated it in college and he knows he has to work with those
kinds of people his whole life he should not have made that choice. Its been
11 years and he still has not understood the reason why. Strange.

------
catshirt
it sounds like the author has surrounded themselves with people who are more
passionate about programming than himself. and he's annoyed by it. fair
enough. stick with it i guess, at least it "pays quite well".

~~~
wladimir
My situation is the opposite of his. I'd love to be surrounded by people that
are passionate about programming. But I work at a company where software is
not the primary focus, so quite some of my colleagues are like him.

------
antihero
"Hacker culture" isn't just limited to a bunch of neckbeards being arrogant in
a lab. Neckbeards will be neckbeards. Hacker culture is about being passionate
and unorthodox and subversive.

------
orenmazor
as pointed out on twitter, the response to this post is another post from
hacker news today:

<http://programming-motherfucker.com/>

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marshray
I don't get it.

Anyway, so a triple integral and a sorting algorithm walk into a bar. The
triple integral says "Bartender, what have you got that's a sure-fire cure for
loneliness?". The bartender says ...

~~~
snissn
You can't just leave me hanging like that...

~~~
biot
... your friend seems to have sorted it out, but at least you're not being
derivative.

(contrived, I know...)

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jagtesh
He's not getting any brownies for that

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michaelochurch
Either he's satirical or I am part of the problem because I simply refuse to
take OP on face value.

I do hate the frank expectation that everyone must work extra hours and code
away from work, with the implication that there's something wrong with a
programmer who doesn't or can't. Before the work culture of the whole country
went to shit, it used to be that programmers were allowed to learn new things
_at work_ instead of having to do so entirely on their own time. I love it
when my life is enough in order that I can code or learn new technologies
outside of work, but that's not often the case. Still, I've always seen that
mentality as a case of managers taking advantage of technical peoples'
eagerness.

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dholowiski
Congratulations, you have been trolled.

