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"If any other field had a cultural barrier to entry like that, no one would stand for it." Plenty of fields have cultural barriers to entry. Frinstance, I woul

by hugh_ 17y ago

"If any other field had a cultural barrier to entry like that, no one would stand for it." Plenty of fields have cultural barriers to entry. Frinstance, I wouldn't want to be a car mechanic, cuz all they talk about is sport. I wouldn't want to be a secretary, cuz all they talk about is American Idol. And I wouldn't want to be a Wall St trader cuz all they talk about is... I dunno, golf and hookers. Of course I'm exaggerating, but the point remains that these are three fields where I'd be turned off by the culture even if I were interested in the actual work.

joe_the_user 17y ago
Actually, My impression is that different fields of study are becoming more and more "culturalized". Aside from the example above, there's obviously a whole cultural barrier for any art related activity.
jdminhbg 17y ago
That was probably the most egregious line in the article, with the exception maybe of comparing work schedules with racism. To me, the challenge is finding a field without some sort of cultural barrier to entry.
thaumaturgy 17y ago
I'm a little surprised by all your upvotes for this comment. I spend at least as much -- and maybe more -- time with car mechanics, natural gas technicians, secretaries, administrators, managers, electricians, and so on as I do with "computer geeks". While I tend to find that people from most of those other sectors enjoy talking about a wide variety of subjects, "computer geeks" (those working in the field as technicians or programmers especially) are far more likely to conversationally hover around technical minutiae or other stereotypically geek interests, like sci-fi. Case in point: I recently attended a professionally-attired holiday dinner party with a corporate client, where most of the employees are scientists or engineers, and many of them are PhD'd in one subject or another. Conversation wandered from ice climbing to traveling to diesel engines to raising kids, and so on. Anything "tech" was strictly verboten. On the other hand, whenever I meet my geekier climbing buddies, it's usually only a matter of minutes before the conversation is about their latest gadget, toy, or other interesting thing in the field.
- ynniv 17y ago
  I have personally found especially geeky people to be unprofessional and underproductive. Yes there is often associated geekery around computers, but wearing it on your sleeve and looking down on more well adjusted people is counter-productive. The most productive programmers that I know are physically and socially active. My hypothesis is that this keeps you energetic and on target to deliver useful features to your customers.
- hugh_ 17y ago
  I should have added that I'm just as turned off by "geek" culture (which I see as being characterized by a rather obesssive interest in a few pop-cultural artifacts which are really only slightly interesting) as I am by any of the others. I'm a scientist, not a programmer, and this is part of the reason.

by hugh_ 17y ago

joe_the_user 17y ago

Actually, My impression is that different fields of study are becoming more and more "culturalized". Aside from the example above, there's obviously a whole cultural barrier for any art related activity.

jdminhbg 17y ago

That was probably the most egregious line in the article, with the exception maybe of comparing work schedules with racism. To me, the challenge is finding a field without some sort of cultural barrier to entry.

thaumaturgy 17y ago

I'm a little surprised by all your upvotes for this comment. I spend at least as much -- and maybe more -- time with car mechanics, natural gas technicians, secretaries, administrators, managers, electricians, and so on as I do with "computer geeks". While I tend to find that people from most of those other sectors enjoy talking about a wide variety of subjects, "computer geeks" (those working in the field as technicians or programmers especially) are far more likely to conversationally hover around technical minutiae or other stereotypically geek interests, like sci-fi. Case in point: I recently attended a professionally-attired holiday dinner party with a corporate client, where most of the employees are scientists or engineers, and many of them are PhD'd in one subject or another. Conversation wandered from ice climbing to traveling to diesel engines to raising kids, and so on. Anything "tech" was strictly verboten. On the other hand, whenever I meet my geekier climbing buddies, it's usually only a matter of minutes before the conversation is about their latest gadget, toy, or other interesting thing in the field.

ynniv 17y ago
I have personally found especially geeky people to be unprofessional and underproductive. Yes there is often associated geekery around computers, but wearing it on your sleeve and looking down on more well adjusted people is counter-productive. The most productive programmers that I know are physically and socially active. My hypothesis is that this keeps you energetic and on target to deliver useful features to your customers.
hugh_ 17y ago
I should have added that I'm just as turned off by "geek" culture (which I see as being characterized by a rather obesssive interest in a few pop-cultural artifacts which are really only slightly interesting) as I am by any of the others. I'm a scientist, not a programmer, and this is part of the reason.