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This is confirmation bias. I don't think the stereotypes are as generally popular as you claim. My own observational bias is the countless "learn to code", "any

This is confirmation bias. I don't think the stereotypes are as generally popular as you claim. My own observational bias is the countless "learn to code", "anyone can code" promotions targeted at youth that make no mention of social limitations. Depression and anxiety are common in the general population. Social maladaptation is also common, though less so. It is unsurprisingly true that these traits are a bit overrepresented in the tech professions. But tech is not unique in this, the healthcare professions also overrepresent depression, for instance. In either case, it is not even close to a majority. People that tend to be in these minority groups though by very nature isolate themselves and tend to only see that minority. At worst, online these can lead to some very troublesome echo chambers.

enraged_camel 7y ago
>>This is confirmation bias. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But you made the original claim, therefore the burden is on you to provide supporting evidence.
- teppifk 7y ago
  > But you made the original claim, therefore the burden is on you to provide supporting evidence. Not really. This is not some magical incantation that compels me to do anything, nor does it make what I said wrong. And tip if you want to win at online forum logic argument wankery (not with me though), perhaps appeals to "stereotypes" and "personal experience" are not the best place to start.
  - hamiltonc 7y ago
    Translation: I don't have any.
    - dang 7y ago
      Please don't gang up on another user.
  - enraged_camel 7y ago
    As hamiltonc said, this sounds like an admission that you don't actually have any evidence. That's okay, but you should just say so, instead of personal attacks such as accusing me of "online forum logic argument wankery". This place is for engaging in discussion with others in good faith, which you have not demonstrated ("good faith" in this context means if you make a broad-sweeping claim, you need to provide evidence for it, at least when asked). Your account seems to be new, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are indeed new here. Here's my "tip": please don't do what you just did. It degrades the quality of the debate and breeds resentment.
    - teppifk 7y ago
      Nah, I have evidence. I just have no need to post it here when anyone that truly cares about "good faith" could confirm it with minimal research. To me, the notion that more than 50% of software engineers have mood or personality disorders is the extraordinary one. Also, I'm not sure how badgering me with calls for "supporting evidence" after countering with appeals to personal experience (which I also don't care, I'm not here to make a federal case) is not supposed to breed resentment.
  - dang 7y ago
    This crosses into name-calling and personal attack. Please steer clear of that on Hacker News; we're trying for something a bit better than internet default here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- teppifk 7y ago
  https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#demographics https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#demographics There's nothing there that indicating mood disorders, waking hours, or screen time even are wildly outside the norm for the middle class working population. Anyways, I don't care about this fact too much. I'm going to continue believing that the majority of software engineers have fairly typical social lives, and my own observations don't conflict with this. I don't care much about this, because the point I was making was that categorizing oneself in buckets like "software engineer" to justify one's misery is counterproductive, and even if 95% of software engineers were miserable I still think it be worth working towards that 5% rather than worrying about stereotypes.

enraged_camel 7y ago

>>This is confirmation bias. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But you made the original claim, therefore the burden is on you to provide supporting evidence.

teppifk 7y ago
> But you made the original claim, therefore the burden is on you to provide supporting evidence. Not really. This is not some magical incantation that compels me to do anything, nor does it make what I said wrong. And tip if you want to win at online forum logic argument wankery (not with me though), perhaps appeals to "stereotypes" and "personal experience" are not the best place to start.
- hamiltonc 7y ago
  Translation: I don't have any.
  - dang 7y ago
    Please don't gang up on another user.
- enraged_camel 7y ago
  As hamiltonc said, this sounds like an admission that you don't actually have any evidence. That's okay, but you should just say so, instead of personal attacks such as accusing me of "online forum logic argument wankery". This place is for engaging in discussion with others in good faith, which you have not demonstrated ("good faith" in this context means if you make a broad-sweeping claim, you need to provide evidence for it, at least when asked). Your account seems to be new, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are indeed new here. Here's my "tip": please don't do what you just did. It degrades the quality of the debate and breeds resentment.
  - teppifk 7y ago
    Nah, I have evidence. I just have no need to post it here when anyone that truly cares about "good faith" could confirm it with minimal research. To me, the notion that more than 50% of software engineers have mood or personality disorders is the extraordinary one. Also, I'm not sure how badgering me with calls for "supporting evidence" after countering with appeals to personal experience (which I also don't care, I'm not here to make a federal case) is not supposed to breed resentment.
- dang 7y ago
  This crosses into name-calling and personal attack. Please steer clear of that on Hacker News; we're trying for something a bit better than internet default here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
teppifk 7y ago
https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#demographics https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#demographics There's nothing there that indicating mood disorders, waking hours, or screen time even are wildly outside the norm for the middle class working population. Anyways, I don't care about this fact too much. I'm going to continue believing that the majority of software engineers have fairly typical social lives, and my own observations don't conflict with this. I don't care much about this, because the point I was making was that categorizing oneself in buckets like "software engineer" to justify one's misery is counterproductive, and even if 95% of software engineers were miserable I still think it be worth working towards that 5% rather than worrying about stereotypes.