People often talk about these aspects of human behaviour and interaction like they're an inherently bad thing. And, oc rouse, we have to be honest enough to adm

People often talk about these aspects of human behaviour and interaction like they're an inherently bad thing. And, oc rouse, we have to be honest enough to admit that sometimes it can be a bad thing. We can all point to examples of toxic behaviour and nepotism as a result of people sucking up and playing politics. However, humans are social creatures, and we get things done by cooperating with eachother, so I think it's fair to argue that those social skills are also pretty important for building software. Like any other social activity or grouping, that can work well, or it can be toxic, but the need for those social skills as a software engineer isn't inherently evil. Likewise, the fact that people with "better" social skills often "do better" isn't necessarily wrong either because those skills are incredibly important for any cooperative endeavour, and particularly for leadership.