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I've never actually come across an actually brilliant engineering person who was also a jerk. Maybe they sometimes superficially seemed like a jerk at first (pa
by johansch 9y ago
I've never actually come across an actually brilliant engineering person who was also a jerk. Maybe they sometimes superficially seemed like a jerk at first (particularly if you had a very thin skin), but not after you actually made an effort to get to know them.
Most of the time though, the jerks just aren't even close to being brilliant. I feel this jerk attitude is quite often something that is used to mask ineptitude.
This is after 20 years, 7+ companies and quite close work with hundreds of individuals (often in a managing position, so maybe they think I was the jerk ;P).
(In fact I feel like most of the "brilliant" people I have worked with have actually been nicer than the average person.)
- dudul 9y agoSame. Roughly the same XP and I have never seen these jerks everybody talks about. Similarly to the 10x engineer, or the awful engineer who could destroy your product if your interview doesn't weed them out, I haven't met the brilliant jerk so far.
- mohaine 9y agoSame here, but I'm afraid that might just put me in to the jerk category myself.
- SadWebDeveloper 9y agoSame here, usually the ones being called "brillant jerks" hold 3-letter positions and take engineering success as their own because they had an idea (kinda like Steve Jobs used to do).
- MartinCron 9y agoI've met the brilliant jerk (and depending on who you ask, I've been the brilliant jerk). It's a real thing. One surprising thing is that it is possible for people to change, at least in how they treat people. Once I was told I would have to interact with the "brilliant jerk" and I complained and my manager said, "no, really, he has CHANGED" and, miracle of miracles, he had. I wish I knew exactly how and why he changed, my best guess is treatment for clinical depression, which often surfaces as extreme irritability.
- elijahwright 9y agoAmen and kudos for mentioning clinical depression as a thing that causes extreme irritability. I know a few Bobs. They are hard to deal with. They get promoted. And eventually you might want to trade them out for a different Bob - which can mean just flat out leaving an organization. They aren't likely to go, so that means it's you.
- DamonHD 9y agoI experienced two nearly-brilliant thorough-going jerks at once in one role, who induced me and most of my peers to leave also. There have been a couple of others in another role, in banking, and they know exactly what I think of them! B^> These people do exist, and can be successful, and the description given in TFA pretty closely matches many aspects of psychopathy, such as the charming-when-necessary and no empathy. Psychopaths are 5x more common in the C-suite than the general population. I don't know about the engineering ratio.