

Are Software Developers Naturally Weird? - edw519
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/features/article.php/3844291/Are-Software-Developers-Naturally-Weird.htm

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ojbyrne
Management theory was mostly invented in the 19th century on the basis that
you have a bunch of smart, ambitious people (management) overseeing a bunch of
dumb, physically more able people (labour). The weirdness is that suddenly
what Marx would call "the factors of production" have to be smart. Not only
that but how smart they are, rather than how strong they are, is the basis of
their productivity.

Invariably, they end up being smarter than the people overseeing them, and
that's the source of the weirdness.

~~~
wheels
There is some correlation between intelligence and skilled labor throughput,
but it's definitely not a linear nor steadily increasing function.

And while the managerial toss-up is an interesting historical note, it doesn't
explain why people think programmers are weird, but don't have the same
associations with, say, doctors.

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bokonist
Recently I tried to come up with a theory of developer quirkiness. Three
possible explanations:

theory 1) Weird people are attracted to software development because they can
interact with machines instead of people.

Theory 2) The traits that make someone a good developer and the traits that
make someone quirky are correlated. People who are good at abstract problem
solving tend to be less adapt at social interaction.

Theory 3) Developers are actually normal. It's the business people who are
weird. They are forced to create an unnatural facade in order to present
themselves to external clients and partners. Eventually, that facade becomes
them. Developers do not need to interact outside the company, and are judged
based on what they get done. Therefore they are free to be their natural
selves.

Since I am a developer, of course I believe that Theory 3 is correct :-)

~~~
tetha
I'd be an example to support #2. I basically like to interact with few other
things, as this gives me the ability to focus on each of them, so I can
understand and react to them better. If the other person is a human or a
program, solving an interesting problem is kind of secondary in this case. (I
didn't need to proof I'm weird, I know, but I did :P) Probably that is the
reason why I'm bad at smalltalk, either, (by the current filters, which are
getting worked on) too little information for too much communication.

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compay
I have always thought the fact that software has so many "weird" people is due
to the fact that we're one of the most meritocratic fields out there. In
software, if you can code well then people will generally accept you, whether
you have a degree or not, and yes; even if you're strange. This is one of the
things I love the most about our profession, and I hope it never changes.

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dlsspy
I tell my kids that everyone is weird. The people who scare me are the ones
who have no visible signs of it.

~~~
ryanpetrich
That is very good advice.

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codexon
This is easily explained by Zajonc's Social Facilitation Theory.

[http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33455/1/0000...](http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33455/1/0000859.pdf)

Developers usually have less social interaction due to the nature of the
activity.

Because others usually have more human interaction instead of sitting in front
of a computer all day, their dominant (or widely accepted) behaviors are
encouraged, while deviant behavior is discouraged. This makes developers look
weird by comparison.

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mahmud
The weird conversations are acceptable because when you have had an isolated
few days solving a difficult problem and you come out triumphant, you will
expect everybody you know to take whatever bullshit you dish.

My commit messages are rated R for language and violence.

FWIW, I also tend to go bar-hopping and talking trash to thugs over pool
tables when I feel triumphant. i.e. "You know who the fuck I am? You see this
fast-scrolling black screen on my phone? that's tail -f /var/www/log/access ..
don't fuck with me!"

~~~
jacquesm
> "You know who the fuck I am? You see this fast-scrolling black screen on my
> phone? that's tail -f /var/www/log/access .. don't fuck with me!"

Well, at least that conclusively answers the OPs question ;)

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yanilkr
I have not seen anyone who is not weird in some perspective. Working
environments are places where collective goal has to be far greater than the
individual differences. If management or team members have to bring such
discussions, usually the problem is not in weirdness of individuals. Team
building and other socializing in non work settings can fix such problem. Non-
technical managers tend to approach such things as some serious problems with
people and try to fix them. Technical people can see that this manager does
not get it and the environment soon turns into a bunch of passion less
workers.

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a-priori
The first thing I thought when I read about _The 'Song Lyrics' Developer_ was:
"wait a second, I've done that before..."

Actually, I've done it many times, and usually when I'm both deep in the zone
and listening to a song with good lyrics.

So I guess I'm weird. Go figure.

Usually though, in code I write for other people, I go back later and edit it
out.

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araneae
There seems to be an inverse relationship between social skills and an
interest in technology. It doesn't surprise me that the better a programmer
you are, the more likely you are to have social difficulties.

The extreme example of this are those on the autism spectrum; the high
functioning ones tend to be very talented in math/tech and extremely "weird."

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nathanb
I don't think so. I think smart, individualistic people are naturally "weird"
and that more software developers tend to be smart and individualistic than
the standard distribution would seem to imply.

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balding_n_tired
How many jobs outside of software development have the folks had who say this?
I've met plenty of weird people in three or four different lines of work.

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etherael
Weird is a loaded term that translated in this particular instance means
"deviates from the normal".

Although it is not the be all and end all of personality measures, I do find
some statistics about the MBTI personality scale very intriguing, especially
pertinent to this particular audience and on this particular subject.

The scale consists of sixteen personality types, here are some coverage
figures for the most prevalent personality types:

* 64% population coverage in the six most common groups.

* The four groups that are referred to as "rationals" all put together total less than 10%. This total figure is outnumbered by any single instance of the top three personality groups.

* 75% population coverage in the "sensate" category (has trouble seeing underlying patterns / rules to reality, experiences things purely through their senses without deep analysis)

* Despite all this, and this is the most eye opening of all, check the relative distribution of types _on this site_ <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204240>

This goes a way to confirming that the developer mindset is indeed somewhat
rare, but people using loaded language like "weird" tell more about themselves
than about their sociological target group.

I would posit that the relatively rare rationals really have far more of a
reason to think that the rest of humanity is "weird" in the sense that they
behave in ways that are not rational, rather than that they behave in ways
that are not normal.

