4 ms·

There is a weird meme that tech people aren't capable of being "team players" or working with other people. This is purely anecdotal, but at one particularly m

There is a weird meme that tech people aren't capable of being "team players" or working with other people. This is purely anecdotal, but at one particularly memorable company, the head of HR would regularly make casual comments that cast the engineers as socially incapable and childish. Meanwhile, she was constantly offending people and her life was a chaotic mess. At the same company, they always talked about team this and team that, but efforts to actually incorporate the team (e.g. clear communication, collaboration) were obviously seen as weak, and the "arrogant know it all" persona was rewarded. I don't know how many of these things are simply cognitive dissonance, or poor communication, and which are deliberate efforts to gain power over others. Seems like a little of all three to me. I also think it's a convenient way for technically incompetent management to lord something over you. They may not understand your technical contributions, but they can finish the review by mentioning how you need to work on some undefined and arbitrary social aspect.

pjc50 10y ago
"Not a team player" is a common euphemism for "won't compliantly do what I tell them". (A common cause of these complaints is people hearing "we can't do that" as "we won't do that", mistaking impossibility for insubordination)
- 77pt77 10y ago
  The common retort is that nothing is impossible.
77pt77 10y ago
> they always talked about team this and team that, but efforts to actually incorporate the team were obviously seen as weak, and the "arrogant know it all" persona was rewarded. These are usually techniques to weed out people that the people defending those strategies think (consciously or not) are unfit. If you follow the advice you really are unfit and they will exclude you. This is common across the board in social situations.
- awfgylbcxhrey 10y ago
  These are usually techniques to weed out people that the people defending those strategies think (consciously or not) are unfit. I don't understand what you're trying to say.
  - 77pt77 10y ago
    They say one thing, expect that people follow it, but then only promote those that explicitly do not follow it, because in reality they want to promote people that do not follow that rhetoric but saying that outright invalidates the test.

pjc50 10y ago

"Not a team player" is a common euphemism for "won't compliantly do what I tell them". (A common cause of these complaints is people hearing "we can't do that" as "we won't do that", mistaking impossibility for insubordination)

77pt77 10y ago
The common retort is that nothing is impossible.

77pt77 10y ago

> they always talked about team this and team that, but efforts to actually incorporate the team were obviously seen as weak, and the "arrogant know it all" persona was rewarded. These are usually techniques to weed out people that the people defending those strategies think (consciously or not) are unfit. If you follow the advice you really are unfit and they will exclude you. This is common across the board in social situations.

awfgylbcxhrey 10y ago
These are usually techniques to weed out people that the people defending those strategies think (consciously or not) are unfit. I don't understand what you're trying to say.
- 77pt77 10y ago
  They say one thing, expect that people follow it, but then only promote those that explicitly do not follow it, because in reality they want to promote people that do not follow that rhetoric but saying that outright invalidates the test.