
How to Get the Most Out of Your Eccentric Programmer/Genius - raganwald
http://lispy.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-eccentric-programmergenius/
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ojbyrne
Interesting writing but lots of sweeping generalizations which leaves me with
nothing to take away from the article. The word "eccentric" means "unusual" -
i.e. not prone to sweeping generalizations.

~~~
learninglisp
Yes. This personality type is prone to making sweeping generalizations. I'll
put that down as another generalization about him.

~~~
nostrademons
That's a bit of a generalization, don't you think? ;-)

~~~
blogimus
I'd even say it is a hasty generalization.

~~~
ks
People like you always say that.

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sfamiliar
that article was disturbing. things i've known about myself for a long time
but hesitated to put into words for fear someone else would get too good a
handle.

it's somehow comforting to know that it's not just me.

~~~
MHollender
Shit, just pick up any book on Asperger from Amazon.

~~~
sfamiliar
that's not it -- i don't exhibit any of the social limitations on interaction;
i feel empathy, am better than most at reading body language, am a reasonable
public speaker, able to generate emotional response from an audience, etc.
while i'm fond of and take comfort in ritual (i use a shaving kit, with a
brush and bowl, for instance) it is not a governing behavior, and i don't lose
myself in repetitive actions. they actually bother me. so that's likely not
it.

i don't think the article is describing something that's disorder-ly, just a
particular type of mental modeling.

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menloparkbum
The theme behind this article is a bit dated. I'm reminded of the (probably
fictional) story 15 years back about the sysadmin who only worked fully nude
from 11pm until 6 am because he was that important and one of the only dudes
in the universe who _knew unix._

These days there are plenty of Ivy-League-Type-A-personality people who are
both easy to work with and good at programming. In most situations nobody is
required to deal with an extreme weirdo.

For these articles to be useful, they should be about how said weirdos can
alter their behavior to be productive. I know people and even have family
members that exhibit some of the traits described, and they are un or
underemployed because nobody is interested in putting up with their
personality quirks. Nor does anyone need to put up with them. It is still hard
to find good programmers, but not nearly as hard as it used to be.

Writing it from the perspective of how to manage these people is pointless,
because it is rare that anyone would be required to work with the person
described. They can simply find someone better and less socially bizarre.

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tdavis
_When you first meet, you will become his “pet project” for a time._

So it's not just a coincidence that every woman I date has more baggage than
an airport? Then I figure that out and keep dating them anyway, perhaps even
more resolutely.

Welp, if I'm doomed to date women orders of magnitude more insane than I am,
they at least better continue to be exceedingly attractive.

~~~
shiranaihito
Nice stealth-brag there, but maybe a bit unnecessary. After all, everyone
knows that programmers get the hottest chicks!

~~~
tdavis
Someone is always pissing in my cereal!

More of an attempt to sorta justify it all, if even just to myself. There are
far more interesting things to brag about.

~~~
shiranaihito
Saying you've had several "exceedingly beautiful" girlfriends is just
pointless among programmers on the Internet.

We can't really prove it either way, but us being programmers and all, it's
just exceedingly unlikely.

~~~
khafra
Not that programmer. He got the idea from Superman III and Office Space, but
instead of funds transfer software he was coding the matching algorithms for
Okcupid.

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edw519
He has little patience for articles that start with "How to" and never
actually _say_ how to.

~~~
learninglisp
Hey, it's the holistic answer to the "how to". What, should I have broken it
down into 12 steps?

To sum it up: let him solve problems his own way. Let him develop
tools/abstractions that help him hide the sort of details and menial tasks
that sap his strength. Force him to get up and go exercise or relax. Don't
hold a nebulous infinishable to-do list over his head to guilt trip him-- he
will come down off of his creative high and beat himself up for being
irresonsible and may even shut down emotionally. Allow him to relate to people
one at a time-- a hike with only _one_ of the children, dates and activities
without a big crowd. Don't take it personally when he absolutely dreads doing
activities you think are "fun". Go stand by his desk until he gets that
nagging little task done. Tell him things like, "if you don't get anything
else done today, please look into x; it's really important to me." And no, he
doesn't need all of a June Cleaver, a secretary, and a personal accountant--
he does need someone to play the part of a "coach", though. And someone that
can organize some of the pesky details into something he can act on can be
critical to this guy getting anything done.

~~~
edw519
_Don't hold a nebulous infinishable to-do list over his head to guilt trip
him-- he will come down off of his creative high and beat himself up for being
irresonsible and may even shut down emotionally._

Wow, I didn't even notice this one the first read. It's EXACTLY what I'm going
through right now.

It's a test of wills. I'm in the middle of a huge rewrite of a critical app
while they insist on bombarding me with minutia (digital whining) every single
day. For the first time ever (with them), I refuse. "Live with it until after
Labor Day; I'm busy." Stay tuned...

(Anyone looking for a good programmer?)

~~~
mrtron
I thought you were on your own already - or is this a contract?

Dealing with people is difficult - perhaps you could setup some sort of
emailing ticket system where the minutia can go into queue. This way it will
not interrupt your important rewrite or other pressing matters.

~~~
edw519
It's a contract.

Things change rapidly and these people understand how well some business
problems can be addressed with technology. They also have a pretty good feel
for what it will take. Their biggest problem is that they want everything now.

I have a habit of almost always saying "yes". But sometimes you just gotta say
no. Not easy for anyone.

Hopefully, once I get this thing into production, I can go back to normal
chaos mode :-)

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thaumaturgy
| Alternately, the effort of getting back in gear so many times in a week or
two will gradually wear him down until he’s exhausted, depressed, or worse.

Yep. This is something I've kinda known for a while, but it's right up in my
face now. I am currently a (cheap) consultant doing on-site technical support
(for, literally, everything), network administration, business processes and
systems, and on and on and on. And, when I'm not doing that, I'm trying to get
back in to gear for web design and software development.

I'm utterly exhausted. I now have to take a moment when a client hits me with
a new problem, and close my eyes, and consciously remember everything related
to their particular system.

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toxik
I, for one, found it very striking in most of it.

Generalizing isn't half bad when there's actually distinctive attributes to
generalize on.

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lsc
a secretary and an accountant are both usually good ideas. Usually businesses
have the accountant part down pat (most people I know like this live so far
below their means that being bad with money doesn't really matter) but often
companies will ask this guy to do things that are better suited to the
secretary. S/he should be designing the inventory system, if some thing s/he
builds needs to go in the inventory system, have someone else deal with that
part. 'uninteresting details' are better left to those who are good at dealing
with 'uninteresting details'

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ryan-allen
From TFA: "For now we’re going to assume that people like this are not sick
even though a subset of the traits may sound superficially like some cases of
autism or even schizophrenia." Who the hell is this guy? What kind of call is
that? He has no background in this subject matter but his writing as if he's
authoritative. Stop linking to him!

~~~
learninglisp
Let me expand out that opening line for you.

The post explores a perspective for the express purpose of generating and
connecting ideas and experiences. Other established interpretations are
possible, but we will temporily set them aside so that we can hash out what is
(potentially) a new idea.

Why is that so hard for some people to get? It's like you're unable to grasp
how mathematics and science is done. You take a premise or form a
hypothesis... then you see what you can build on it. 9 times out of 10 it
doesn't go anywhere... but the time for rigor is later, not at the beginning.

It's as if the phrase "for the sake of discussion" is completely beyond your
mental capacity or something....

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KevBurnsJr
_To most people, "it's just words" ..._

Kudos.

------
known
Ask him some smart questions. This will stimulate him to deliver his best.

------
shiranaihito
Your eccentric programmer genius also responds well to ego-stroking articles
explaining what a precious, unique little snowflake he is!

Don't show this to him though, as reading it would cause a mental context
switch, and make him feel all sapped and drained!

As we all know, your eccentric genius worker ant is at least 30 times more
productive than Joe Average, so making him reattune the universe with his
humming inner harmony would result in billions worth of lost productivity!

~~~
swombat
I smell envy.

Everyone responds well to ego-stroking articles. The real question is, can you
inject some useful stuff along with the ego-stroking?

~~~
shiranaihito
I smell a positive response to the article :p

The problem is that there have been lots of articles like this floating
around, during the past year for example, and every time the central theme is
"We're So Special".

It's getting old.

~~~
toxik
It's part of human nature to want to be like other people.

Even if it's all pretentious bullshit, horoscopes masqueraded, why can't you
let the people who feel struck feel struck?

It's just like religion. You can't prove anything to be wrong, you just know,
but you also let people live with the lie, because it makes them happy.

Did I get vague? I didn't mean to.

------
MHollender
"As far as dating and relationships go, women should be careful with this
guy."

This guy must be living in Fantasyland. Since when are women interested in
Aspies? We aren't exactly the type who often has his hair cut or likes to go
to a restaurant.

~~~
learninglisp
There's a certain type of female that is completely addicted to the sort of
raw intimacy and lavish attention that this type of person will deliver during
the early stages of the relationship. They will overlook all kinds of problem
signals if they are getting what they need in their inner core.

As another person said, this type of woman will have serious issues. That
won't change the fact that you're getting laid.

