5 ms·
"Then I see these people’s follower count, and I sob harder. I can’t help but think of potential future employers that are no longer potential." Speaking as a
by lxt 14y ago
"Then I see these people’s follower count, and I sob harder. I can’t help but think of potential future employers that are no longer potential."
Speaking as a hiring manager, if I see people behaving like assholes on Twitter or mailing lists, those people go on my do-not-hire list. Yes, we are all assholes from time to time, but for some people it's a pattern of behavior. Those are not people you want to work with, no matter how smart they are.
- solox3 14y agoThere's a fine line between being critics (constructive) and being assholes (destructive). When hiring, be sure to differentiate the two.
- Kroem3r 14y agoMy experience and belief is different: It's clear and obvious where the line is. People who provide constructive criticism in such a way that you can tolerate repeated critiques are strikingly different than people who are assholes under cover of providing constructive criticism.
- m0wfo 14y agoAnd the most constructive criticism here would be a pull request :)
- kyro 14y agoNo, it is a very thick line. Save for a few situations where you might question whether what you said was misconstrued, people for the most part know when they're being civil or not. "I'm just a straightforward guy", "I tell it like it is", and "I don't want to sugarcoat" are ways people justify being an asshole by acting as if they've got your best interests at heart and genuinely want to help. They damn well know how mean they're being.
- jgon 14y agoA great quote I once heard is that people who claim they are just being "brutally honest" seem to be motivated by the brutality more so than the honesty.
- freework 14y agoA lot of very talented and successful people are successful. Michael Jordan, Linus Torvalds, and Albert Einstein come to mind. If Linus Torvalds applied to work at your company, would you turn him away?
- andrewem 14y agoI know a guy who worked at Transmeta when Linus was there, and afterward he joked that anyone who got Linus hired should get their pay docked instead of a hiring bonus. So maybe.
- lxt 14y agoIf everybody who interviewed a candidate thought they were a raging asshole, then yes, I would turn them away. There are enough really smart people to hire who are not assholes. I cannot speak as to Linus, because a) I haven't met him or interacted with him and b) I don't think it's appropriate to comment on a named individual. As an interesting point, I learned this lesson in who not to hire from Michael Schroepfer, who is now VP of Engineering at Facebook.