This seems to be really common thinking, too. It seems to go like this. A lot of programmers are weird. They don’t get along well with people. They keep weird

This seems to be really common thinking, too. It seems to go like this. A lot of programmers are weird. They don’t get along well with people. They keep weird hours. They dislike social norms. This part is true, although far from universal. The problem is the next step: since programmerness is associated with all this weird behavior, the most extreme and therefore best programmers will be the ones who behave the weirdest. This is reinforced by a simple selective process: mediocre programmers who behave badly tend to get fired, while genius ones are often kept around because their abilities outweigh their flaws (or at least management thins they do). Thus, when you see a really weird programmer on the job, chances are that they’re also really good. It’s all bullshit as far as I can tell. Plenty of great programmers have fine social skills, work 9-5, enjoy teaching new people, etc. Plenty of crappy programmers are also weirdos. But the perception is definitely there. This discussion of 10x programmers and sometimes denial that they exist is really people pushing back against the notion that weird or bad behavior is a signal of greatness, or that productivity means you can treat people like shit.