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Some people, who's very existence apparently fits into "radical" for some reason, do not get to pick their weirdness points.

lambdasquirrel 7y ago
Grammar aside, I don't know why this was downvoted so quickly. A lot of hackers were "weird" not that long ago. And we still are.
- anon73044 7y ago
  I overheard a conversation at my local barbershop last week, a technical recruiter lamenting about how "strange" software developers are.... I completely understand it, his target demographic being kids fresh out of University and probably need to exercise their social skills a bit, but the lack of empathy is what irked me the most.
- sascha_sl 7y ago
  I could've mentioned I'm trans in the parent post. But I know there is a downvote reflex on this website for merely implying you might be part of a somewhat disadvantaged minority. Glad to see it somehow ended up at +3. I should really note that while I initially thought of myself definitely being too weird by default to have any leeway to pick my weirdness, other less distinct people have that too, depending on the field you work in. Just being a woman in a technical role comes with a lot of people assuming you have no idea what you're doing, and pushing back against that is some of your "weirdness" spent. (also, it's really weird to slowly male-fail and get put into that bucket too with people you haven't previously worked with, having the means to compare)
mekane8 7y ago
Not sure why this would get downvoted, I think it makes sense. From what I've read about transgendered people, they either suffer through the stress of gender dysphoria and appear outwardly "normal" or they choose to let their outward appearance match their inner identity and would be thus spending all of their points. Not a great choice.
bryanlarsen 7y ago
Concrete example: if your office is a bunch of boys who regularly game together, you can still fit in if you don't. Unless you're female. A woman that games with the boys would fit in, but a woman that doesn't would likely end up an outsider.
gdubs 7y ago
This is a really important point. Some people are marginalized by default due to the fact that they‘re different than “normal”, because that’s how they were born. That’s a reality for a lot of people: “You shouldn’t assert yourself so much, no one likes that coming from an X.” ”Don’t show so much anger. You’re a Y — it’ll scare people.”
munificent 7y ago
This is a great point. This is why being an "ally" is so important. If you lucked into fitting in to society by virtue of birth, you have more weirdness points you can spend to help move society in the direction of accepting those people whose existence means they are already short on points.

lambdasquirrel 7y ago

Grammar aside, I don't know why this was downvoted so quickly. A lot of hackers were "weird" not that long ago. And we still are.

anon73044 7y ago
I overheard a conversation at my local barbershop last week, a technical recruiter lamenting about how "strange" software developers are.... I completely understand it, his target demographic being kids fresh out of University and probably need to exercise their social skills a bit, but the lack of empathy is what irked me the most.
sascha_sl 7y ago
I could've mentioned I'm trans in the parent post. But I know there is a downvote reflex on this website for merely implying you might be part of a somewhat disadvantaged minority. Glad to see it somehow ended up at +3. I should really note that while I initially thought of myself definitely being too weird by default to have any leeway to pick my weirdness, other less distinct people have that too, depending on the field you work in. Just being a woman in a technical role comes with a lot of people assuming you have no idea what you're doing, and pushing back against that is some of your "weirdness" spent. (also, it's really weird to slowly male-fail and get put into that bucket too with people you haven't previously worked with, having the means to compare)

mekane8 7y ago

Not sure why this would get downvoted, I think it makes sense. From what I've read about transgendered people, they either suffer through the stress of gender dysphoria and appear outwardly "normal" or they choose to let their outward appearance match their inner identity and would be thus spending all of their points. Not a great choice.

bryanlarsen 7y ago

Concrete example: if your office is a bunch of boys who regularly game together, you can still fit in if you don't. Unless you're female. A woman that games with the boys would fit in, but a woman that doesn't would likely end up an outsider.

gdubs 7y ago

This is a really important point. Some people are marginalized by default due to the fact that they‘re different than “normal”, because that’s how they were born. That’s a reality for a lot of people: “You shouldn’t assert yourself so much, no one likes that coming from an X.” ”Don’t show so much anger. You’re a Y — it’ll scare people.”

munificent 7y ago

This is a great point. This is why being an "ally" is so important. If you lucked into fitting in to society by virtue of birth, you have more weirdness points you can spend to help move society in the direction of accepting those people whose existence means they are already short on points.