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This guy sounds like a massive, toxic asshole. I'm tired of dealing with people like this. It does not have to be this hard. Tech companies should fire more pe

This guy sounds like a massive, toxic asshole. I'm tired of dealing with people like this. It does not have to be this hard. Tech companies should fire more people just for being jerks. > I was mad that, while I spent my nights learning F#, my daughter started calling everyone around “fathers”. Huh, you mean missing out on the good parts of life while martyring yourself for a company that does not give a shit about you can lead to resentment and toxic work culture? YOU. DON'T. SAY. Honestly, a lot of the time management will stoke the "hero coders" ego so they will do the free work. Management: Oh, Hero Protagonist! We need you! How will we ever earn enough to give our CEO the 15 million bonus if you do not martyr yourself for this feature? Hero Protagonist: They're right. I am the best and smartest. I better dump all of my emotional labor onto my coworkers and significant others and bury myself into doing free work for my company. > When you work as a developer, you always have to argue. You, as a team, arrive on a solution after a lot of argument, even though we call them “discussions”. I do not feel this way at all. There are productive ways to have discussions that do not involve getting defensive and arguing. The fact that you have to drag all of your discussions into toxic arguments in order to save face is... sad. > And yet it’s somehow important than your arguments “win” more often than not, just to feel good and confident in your power. No, it is not. That is just how you feel to justify your constant toxicity. I see very little "power" in bullying all of the other developers on my team into following my opinions.

mhink 8y ago
It sounds more to me like the author is trying to illustrate those toxic thought processes (based on his personal experience) using that second-person perspective, rather than actually claiming that those things are true. It's just the language barrier that makes it not work as well. Check out the last few paragraphs: > This review I kicked off the article with? I didn’t send it. Instead I gave the guy a couple of comments and politely asked to fix a couple of things. No big deal if the code’s not good, I can fix it myself it I need to. But I can’t fix the psyche of a guy broken by dozens of harsh reviews. > My personality today isn’t my disease. It’s a disease of the whole industry, at least in Russia. Our mentality is predicated on the cult of power and superiority. And that’s what we need to fix.
Boxxed 8y ago
This piece is so obviously written as satire / hyperbole that I'm tempted to think your response is as well?
- ThePadawan 8y ago
  I have met quite a large number of software developers in my day, and if I didn't recall meeting them face-to-face, I would describe the behavior of around 15-20% of them as "obvious satire".
castlecrasher2 8y ago
I thought you were exaggerating but you're not; the guy sounds like a real pain to work with.
webdood90 8y ago
I think the author is trying to surface the conclusion you've made, but I'm not sure it merits such an emotional response from you. The article is thought provoking. It makes good points, even if you don't like the author. I can relate to a lot of his examples.
gfodor 8y ago
Did you finish the article?
ranie93 8y ago
If the author is coming around by realizing the error in their ways; a way that seems painfully obvious to you, I don't think it does anyone any favors to chastise them for not knowing sooner. Its clear to say not everyone grows in environments that reinforce positive thinking. Further, unless I am misreading the tone of the article, the author is listing out all of the defects you quoted not to defend or justify, but precisely to highlight their ridiculousness and falseness.
- pytyper2 8y ago
  The sad part is he was probable middle aged by the time he realized this, those projects he worked on are probably dead.
Lukas_Skywalker 8y ago
The article finishes with the author explaining that (at least part of) the article is imagination.
athenot 8y ago
> I see very little "power" in bullying all of the other developers on my team into following my opinions. The author actually addresses that. It's just the style of the article takes you on a journey in his mind before getting to the conclusion. It's a different style of writing. From the article: If we were being laughed at while young, it doesn’t mean you have to return the favor later on. The vicious cycle can easily be broken. Life becomes easier if you learn to lose arguments, if you can admit that another developer is more talented than you.
torstenvl 8y ago
The author is talking about a learning experience he had regarding a deficiency he identified (being a jerk) in his own work (reviewing other coders' code). Meanwhile, your comment levies personal criticism toward him using pretty inflammatory language ("toxic," "sad," "asshole," "jerk," etc.), because of the way he responds to people who are learning. Interesting juxtaposition, that.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
badcede 8y ago
This comment has bullying energy in its own right.
jchw 8y ago
I also felt weird reading this. I really want to see some of this person's "code reviews." Two hundred comments on a pull request? How many of the comments are useful and actionable? I love having my code thoroughly reviewed. It does not ruin my life to see someone say "I don't think this is a good idea." I think you have to be operating on a different level to be ruining lives through pull request comments.
JTbane 8y ago
>I'm tired of dealing with people like this. It does not have to be this hard. Tech companies should fire more people just for being jerks. The problem is that the traits that make someone a 'jerk' are often the same traits that make a '10x developer'.

mhink 8y ago

It sounds more to me like the author is trying to illustrate those toxic thought processes (based on his personal experience) using that second-person perspective, rather than actually claiming that those things are true. It's just the language barrier that makes it not work as well. Check out the last few paragraphs: > This review I kicked off the article with? I didn’t send it. Instead I gave the guy a couple of comments and politely asked to fix a couple of things. No big deal if the code’s not good, I can fix it myself it I need to. But I can’t fix the psyche of a guy broken by dozens of harsh reviews. > My personality today isn’t my disease. It’s a disease of the whole industry, at least in Russia. Our mentality is predicated on the cult of power and superiority. And that’s what we need to fix.

Boxxed 8y ago

This piece is so obviously written as satire / hyperbole that I'm tempted to think your response is as well?

ThePadawan 8y ago
I have met quite a large number of software developers in my day, and if I didn't recall meeting them face-to-face, I would describe the behavior of around 15-20% of them as "obvious satire".

castlecrasher2 8y ago

I thought you were exaggerating but you're not; the guy sounds like a real pain to work with.

webdood90 8y ago

I think the author is trying to surface the conclusion you've made, but I'm not sure it merits such an emotional response from you. The article is thought provoking. It makes good points, even if you don't like the author. I can relate to a lot of his examples.

gfodor 8y ago

Did you finish the article?

ranie93 8y ago

If the author is coming around by realizing the error in their ways; a way that seems painfully obvious to you, I don't think it does anyone any favors to chastise them for not knowing sooner. Its clear to say not everyone grows in environments that reinforce positive thinking. Further, unless I am misreading the tone of the article, the author is listing out all of the defects you quoted not to defend or justify, but precisely to highlight their ridiculousness and falseness.

pytyper2 8y ago
The sad part is he was probable middle aged by the time he realized this, those projects he worked on are probably dead.

Lukas_Skywalker 8y ago

The article finishes with the author explaining that (at least part of) the article is imagination.

athenot 8y ago

> I see very little "power" in bullying all of the other developers on my team into following my opinions. The author actually addresses that. It's just the style of the article takes you on a journey in his mind before getting to the conclusion. It's a different style of writing. From the article: If we were being laughed at while young, it doesn’t mean you have to return the favor later on. The vicious cycle can easily be broken. Life becomes easier if you learn to lose arguments, if you can admit that another developer is more talented than you.

torstenvl 8y ago

The author is talking about a learning experience he had regarding a deficiency he identified (being a jerk) in his own work (reviewing other coders' code). Meanwhile, your comment levies personal criticism toward him using pretty inflammatory language ("toxic," "sad," "asshole," "jerk," etc.), because of the way he responds to people who are learning. Interesting juxtaposition, that.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

badcede 8y ago

This comment has bullying energy in its own right.

jchw 8y ago

I also felt weird reading this. I really want to see some of this person's "code reviews." Two hundred comments on a pull request? How many of the comments are useful and actionable? I love having my code thoroughly reviewed. It does not ruin my life to see someone say "I don't think this is a good idea." I think you have to be operating on a different level to be ruining lives through pull request comments.

JTbane 8y ago

>I'm tired of dealing with people like this. It does not have to be this hard. Tech companies should fire more people just for being jerks. The problem is that the traits that make someone a 'jerk' are often the same traits that make a '10x developer'.