I've been trying to figure out why this piece sticks in my craw. I am, for all intents and purposes, Developer Guy. I'm analytical. I write code. I solve pr

I've been trying to figure out why this piece sticks in my craw. I am, for all intents and purposes, Developer Guy. I'm analytical. I write code. I solve problems, often with math. I've been "this way" my whole life. I've also been in many tens of thousands of conversations, with all kinds of people. Yet, despite having been in many conversations about everything and nothing at all, I've never been tempted to question my conversational partner's ability to reason analytically based on their decision to ask non-technical questions: - If we talk about the weather, I assume we're making small talk. - If we talk about family and friends, I assume that they want to talk about something with greater personal meaning. - If we talk about their vintage peruvian bottle cap collection, I assume that they really like peruvian bottle caps. Likewise, when someone comes up to me and asks me some very intense technical question, I don't assume that they aren't also evaluating my tone, posture, volume, poise, choice of words, etc. We're all human. It's all part of the game. Sales Guy seems puzzled that Developer Guy isn't spending time on non-technical issues. But how does he know that? Is he assuming that Developer Guy doesn't care? Developer guy might just be intensely interested in sales guy's specific knowledge. It happens. What strikes me about this writing is not that Developer Guy and Sales Guy are different, but that Sales Guy is reconciling a stereotype of Developer Guy with his actual experience. And that's bothersome.