I read the post, saw this comment, then re-read it again. I did not get the impression that author was trying to be negative. I think they were just trying to w

I read the post, saw this comment, then re-read it again. I did not get the impression that author was trying to be negative. I think they were just trying to write in an "edgy" style. I've seen most of the things on the list happen (at least to a degree). On the topic of contagious jerks, my experience has been that these people often suck at engineering. For example, a few years ago, one of the product managers was super excited to recruit an engineer they had worked with before. The engineer was talked up. A real genius. Someone who would come in and do things right. He would lead a new sibling team working on a new product. I was excited. We could use the help as we were going through hyper-growth. The engineer seemed smart, but had a very sarcastic and negative attitude. The existing architecture was garbage. Everyone's code was terrible. Even the choice of language was wrong. While he was respectful towards me and the work I had done, I saw him put down most of the people around him. I kept my distance and let him do his thing. It wasn't my place in the organization to interfere anyway. The end result was he drove half his team to quit, delivered an absolute disaster of a system, and then left. I've seen versions of this play out a few times. My experience has been that the smartest people are often the nicest because they are smart enough to recognize the value in lifting everyone. I know its not always the case and I have worked with difficult people who genuinely were incredible engineers as well, but they tend not to actively put everyone around them down.