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A highly skilled but socially inept engineer is not a top performer. Interacting with others is part of their performance. Ultimately you need to look at the su

A highly skilled but socially inept engineer is not a top performer. Interacting with others is part of their performance. Ultimately you need to look at the sum total of time, money, and outcome for the entire team; if firing a single "rockstar but asshole" developer allows the rest of your team to achieve the same productivity, you're still better off because you're saving both money and time on that person. Conversely if a single such developer can replace your entire team… sure, go for it. In the extreme, if bcachefs gets removed from the kernel, the productivity outcome (depending on your measure) is actually zero. [Ed.: also, honestly, if you need to hire a "babysitter" for such a highly skilled engineer, that is also a viable option & there shouldn't be a social stigma for that either. I wouldn't say it's the manager's job though, not to that degree at least.]

lll-o-lll 1y ago
Difficult people are not “assholes”. Someone saying “your engineering practices are shoddy and the quality of your code is bad” does not make them an asshole. It makes them french maybe. My point is that there are people low on the agreeableness scale, and they can often be exceptional engineers. You have to manage them, yes, but taking the easy way out of “i’ll sack anyone who’s prickly” will mean a shit team. You need people (or at least one), who will say “that won’t work because…” “this is bad because…” “this will fail because…”.
- jjaksic 1y ago
  A person who points out flaws is not an asshole. An asshole is a person who breaks rules and who breaks trust. We're talking about the latter, not the former.
- motorest 1y ago
  > My point is that there are people low on the agreeableness scale, and they can often be exceptional engineers. Not true. Every single egregious asshole who is unable or unwilling to work in a team environment is quite bluntly incompetent. No degree of perceived hard skills mitigate how incompetent these types are. Engineering is predominantly a social activity. Team output is amplified by a collaborative environment. If you fail at basic tasks such as coordinating work and you manage to antagonize anyone around you then your net contribution to the project is negative.

lll-o-lll 1y ago

Difficult people are not “assholes”. Someone saying “your engineering practices are shoddy and the quality of your code is bad” does not make them an asshole. It makes them french maybe. My point is that there are people low on the agreeableness scale, and they can often be exceptional engineers. You have to manage them, yes, but taking the easy way out of “i’ll sack anyone who’s prickly” will mean a shit team. You need people (or at least one), who will say “that won’t work because…” “this is bad because…” “this will fail because…”.

jjaksic 1y ago
A person who points out flaws is not an asshole. An asshole is a person who breaks rules and who breaks trust. We're talking about the latter, not the former.
motorest 1y ago
> My point is that there are people low on the agreeableness scale, and they can often be exceptional engineers. Not true. Every single egregious asshole who is unable or unwilling to work in a team environment is quite bluntly incompetent. No degree of perceived hard skills mitigate how incompetent these types are. Engineering is predominantly a social activity. Team output is amplified by a collaborative environment. If you fail at basic tasks such as coordinating work and you manage to antagonize anyone around you then your net contribution to the project is negative.