
Why did the software engineering community become so toxic? - kiraken
https://medium.com/@BenSassiAladin/why-did-the-software-engineering-community-become-so-toxic-c47bed17e163
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duxup
I feel like this isn't so much a thing and just a reflection of what the
writer happened to be paying attention to.

I don't see anyone bragging about IQ tests and I don't think Zuckerberg was
ever some iconic type developer whose choices reflect on all developers. These
are weird things to me.

I attend free conferences where people take their time to share their
knowledge and work, the web is full of those people trying to help each other.

Personally I think things are good and better than when I took my first shot
at being a developer in the mid 90s when the social outcast type coding guy
felt very real and very unfriendly.

~~~
mdorazio
I think this is a "yes and no" situation. The software engineering community
is full of helpful people who want to share their work and generally be kind
to others. It is also full of arrogant assholes who can't fathom nuance in
solutions, the importance of social niceties, or the possibility of being
wrong sometimes. If you only go to conferences and friendlier forums for
discussion, you'll mostly only see the former. If you work around enough
startups, high-profile CS programs, or even just spend much time on stack
overflow, you will _definitely_ see the latter. This is doubly true if you
happen to be female.

To me there are two issues with the latter group: the first is that they tend
to be more vocal and more memorable, which skews overall perceptions. The
second is that the community _tolerates_ these people and even celebrates them
way more than it should.

~~~
luckylion
The arrogant assholes weren't given any power or respect _outside_ of tech,
though, unless they are rich, nobody who isn't on the mailing list or depends
on their software cares. I've never seen any developer become the life of the
party because "he might start the next big thing".

I feel like this article just throws cliches together that have little basis
in reality, because it's as hip to call the "nerds" out for being assholes
because "now they have power" as it was to call them nerds 20 years ago.

Imho these "thought leader self marketing" articles don't provide much value.
They regurgitate common talking points and the biggest difference is the image
choice.

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gregjor
The people who write code do not comprise a community. The behavior the author
cites does not represent anything more than some extreme generalizations. In
35 years programming I have not known more than a handful of assholes matching
the author’s descriptions.

