Calling yourself a scrappy programmer and denouncing social standing improves your social standing with other programmers. Surprise, we're social animals, we c

Calling yourself a scrappy programmer and denouncing social standing improves your social standing with other programmers. Surprise, we're social animals, we care deeply and intrinsically about this crap. Best to embrace it and understand it for what it is. That way at least you're in control. There are a lot of pragmatic benefits that come from having good social standing. Everything from an emotional support structure when things go wrong, to ease of accessing resources when you need them. For example: if you alienate everyone around you and destroy your social standing, then nobody will help you when your startup blows up and you're about to get kicked out on the street. You'll need a couch to crash on for a few days, but nobody to ask for it.