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Techies, math nerds, and science geeks are generally an alienating group. Someone recently asked me why this is (being an unassuming software developer) and my

by bherms 14y ago

Techies, math nerds, and science geeks are generally an alienating group. Someone recently asked me why this is (being an unassuming software developer) and my reply was: "they're usually nerds, geeks, and other socially alienated people who have always felt below everyone else (jocks, popular kids in hs) and finally have some sense of superiority so they revel in it and you combine that with their already stunted ability to socialize or interact with people and it becomes a fucking mess" I feel like this is the problem. When I was in the Air Force, we had the same issue with people who had been picked on as kids or who had never been in a leadership role. You could tell they had a chip on their shoulder and just loved the fact they now held superiority in some small way over the same type of people that used to pick on them. This generally made them the worst leaders, by far, and made them incredibly difficult to work with because their smugness alienated everyone else.

tessr 14y ago
This is a really interesting point, and I'm sure that it's a factor for a lot of people. I hadn't thought of it at all!
Retric 14y ago
Despite what a lot of media suggest plenty of people hung out the geek crowd, not because they felt inferior, but because they found most people boring. Shock and horror the caption of the football team can love to play chess and be great at it. I was incredibly nerdy in high-school, had a lot of fun, and I was rather popular. That said; there are a lot of people out there and if you go looking for a stereotype you can often find it, or at least convince yourself that's what your seeing. PS: Team sports can actually be a lot of fun.
- bherms 14y ago
  Obviously it's true that people bust stereotypes every day. I'm in th same boat you were... Computer/math/video game/comics "nerd" who also was vp of the class, captain of the wrestling team, very popular, and accepted by every group. Just because there are people who violate the stereotypes doesn't mean that my original observation doesn't hold any water.
wccrawford 14y ago
1 other way to look at it: We were excluded from everything and generally treated like crap. We formed our own cliques and we're happy with them. Why the would we want to let the people in who once shunned us? We don't want that kind of person around us. And before anyone says, "Not everyone treated you that way," they did. The ones that weren't actively tormenting us were passively allowing it to happen while they were allowed into the groups. Everyone that wasn't against us was with us. So yeah. We're a pretty closed group now. It shouldn't come as a surprise at all.
- bherms 14y ago
  Exactly. You hit the nail on the head. It's not surprising at all. The converse (inverse? I always mix them up) is true too. What would the jocks do if a nerd tried to come out for a sport? Generally make fun of, pick on, and possibly try to hurt them. This mentality exists within all groups. I'm sure there's something really interesting to discuss here about sociology and the human psyche, but unfortunately I'm not well versed in those subjects.
krishnakv 14y ago
Is it possible that our reaction to techies and what they can do comes entirely from within? i.e. the geeks are not really doing anything to intimidate the rest of us, they are just going about their daily lives. Its us who are assigning special labels to them, assigning special meaning to what they say ("oh he just mentioned his stackoverflow reputation, big showoff" :-) )and getting intimidated. Also, I see this in all walks of life. Chess players have ELO rating scores, cyclists and runners talk about miles per week, programmers talk about their stakoverflow score, SEO consultants talk about their # of twitter followers etc. If you want to be really intimidated by child prodigies, look at other fields like mathematics (Terrence Tao?), chess (Bobby Fischer). Truly awe-inspiring (and dare I say, God given) talent from a very young age. We have it OK here in IT. Probably time to work on ourselves to be satisfied and compare less :-).
- bherms 14y ago
  I like your perspective as its one I hadn't considered. Perhaps the idea of intimidation comes entirely from our own fears of not fitting in (which could be amplified when you consider the Possibility that perhaps some people who generally "belong" feel more self-conscious about fitting in with a new group as being an outsider is foreign to them... There's also something to be said about the Dunning-Kruger effect, but I don't have all night :) )...

by bherms 14y ago

tessr 14y ago

This is a really interesting point, and I'm sure that it's a factor for a lot of people. I hadn't thought of it at all!

Retric 14y ago

Despite what a lot of media suggest plenty of people hung out the geek crowd, not because they felt inferior, but because they found most people boring. Shock and horror the caption of the football team can love to play chess and be great at it. I was incredibly nerdy in high-school, had a lot of fun, and I was rather popular. That said; there are a lot of people out there and if you go looking for a stereotype you can often find it, or at least convince yourself that's what your seeing. PS: Team sports can actually be a lot of fun.

bherms 14y ago
Obviously it's true that people bust stereotypes every day. I'm in th same boat you were... Computer/math/video game/comics "nerd" who also was vp of the class, captain of the wrestling team, very popular, and accepted by every group. Just because there are people who violate the stereotypes doesn't mean that my original observation doesn't hold any water.

wccrawford 14y ago

1 other way to look at it: We were excluded from everything and generally treated like crap. We formed our own cliques and we're happy with them. Why the would we want to let the people in who once shunned us? We don't want that kind of person around us. And before anyone says, "Not everyone treated you that way," they did. The ones that weren't actively tormenting us were passively allowing it to happen while they were allowed into the groups. Everyone that wasn't against us was with us. So yeah. We're a pretty closed group now. It shouldn't come as a surprise at all.

bherms 14y ago
Exactly. You hit the nail on the head. It's not surprising at all. The converse (inverse? I always mix them up) is true too. What would the jocks do if a nerd tried to come out for a sport? Generally make fun of, pick on, and possibly try to hurt them. This mentality exists within all groups. I'm sure there's something really interesting to discuss here about sociology and the human psyche, but unfortunately I'm not well versed in those subjects.

krishnakv 14y ago

Is it possible that our reaction to techies and what they can do comes entirely from within? i.e. the geeks are not really doing anything to intimidate the rest of us, they are just going about their daily lives. Its us who are assigning special labels to them, assigning special meaning to what they say ("oh he just mentioned his stackoverflow reputation, big showoff" :-) )and getting intimidated. Also, I see this in all walks of life. Chess players have ELO rating scores, cyclists and runners talk about miles per week, programmers talk about their stakoverflow score, SEO consultants talk about their # of twitter followers etc. If you want to be really intimidated by child prodigies, look at other fields like mathematics (Terrence Tao?), chess (Bobby Fischer). Truly awe-inspiring (and dare I say, God given) talent from a very young age. We have it OK here in IT. Probably time to work on ourselves to be satisfied and compare less :-).

bherms 14y ago
I like your perspective as its one I hadn't considered. Perhaps the idea of intimidation comes entirely from our own fears of not fitting in (which could be amplified when you consider the Possibility that perhaps some people who generally "belong" feel more self-conscious about fitting in with a new group as being an outsider is foreign to them... There's also something to be said about the Dunning-Kruger effect, but I don't have all night :) )...