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"They may really flourish at engineering-type tasks" I see a problem there. In my own experience, the hardest skills for newly minted software engineers to lea

by drewcoo 14y ago

"They may really flourish at engineering-type tasks" I see a problem there. In my own experience, the hardest skills for newly minted software engineers to learn are the social skills. Not having those soft skills is career-limiting because engineering is a highly collaborative, cooperative process. And being "senior" or in management requires even more of those people skills. Maybe a known glass ceiling is better than not being employable but it bothers me that there's no acknowledgement of the limitation.

cgio 14y ago
The glass ceiling is there even for not so prominent cases and it can be an even worse experience. I grew up fine, with minor social issues but was always limited at work due to limited social interaction or for "we do not know why, but it does not seem right to give you a promotion". After my son was diagnosed with Autism and I found out I was an Asperger's it started making more sense. The realisation of the glass ceiling is important, because there are always career paths that do not lead you on top of others but in places no-one else has been. Sometimes, also, you get better in social skills if you do not treat the interaction as such but as engineering a communication flow to achieve a result. When you get the hang of it, it looks like you are a normal communicator. Which goes a long way to explain that you are not exploiting a relationship, you just have to actively process it at a more conceptual level rather than have it cached in your "emotional intelligence".
ac500 14y ago
I'm not sure I understand what problem you mentioned you see here. I think most people know social difficulties are associated with ASD. What constructive additions would you add to the article, beyond just "these people will never be good managers" or other such unfortunate stereotypes? Also FYI your implication that aspergers etc. limits collaborative ability is wrong. The only difference, in my case, is a lack of small talk, fluff, and emotional context. While this may impact promotions in workplaces where politics trumps technical ability, for many people it does not impact ability to communicate eloquently and collaborate efficiently. In fact co-workers who know me well especially enjoy brainstorming with me, I've been told, because you can't offend me by shooting down my ideas, suggesting scrapping entire lines of work, etc. (this is one positive benefit in my particular case of aspergers). Conversely though, it takes a lot of effort for me to constantly remember how sensitive and attached people can be to their ideas. This requires a careful effort to walk on eggshells when pointing out bad designs, dangerous code, etc., but generally is not a problem as long as I formulate a good social protocol for such situations.

by drewcoo 14y ago

cgio 14y ago

The glass ceiling is there even for not so prominent cases and it can be an even worse experience. I grew up fine, with minor social issues but was always limited at work due to limited social interaction or for "we do not know why, but it does not seem right to give you a promotion". After my son was diagnosed with Autism and I found out I was an Asperger's it started making more sense. The realisation of the glass ceiling is important, because there are always career paths that do not lead you on top of others but in places no-one else has been. Sometimes, also, you get better in social skills if you do not treat the interaction as such but as engineering a communication flow to achieve a result. When you get the hang of it, it looks like you are a normal communicator. Which goes a long way to explain that you are not exploiting a relationship, you just have to actively process it at a more conceptual level rather than have it cached in your "emotional intelligence".

ac500 14y ago

I'm not sure I understand what problem you mentioned you see here. I think most people know social difficulties are associated with ASD. What constructive additions would you add to the article, beyond just "these people will never be good managers" or other such unfortunate stereotypes? Also FYI your implication that aspergers etc. limits collaborative ability is wrong. The only difference, in my case, is a lack of small talk, fluff, and emotional context. While this may impact promotions in workplaces where politics trumps technical ability, for many people it does not impact ability to communicate eloquently and collaborate efficiently. In fact co-workers who know me well especially enjoy brainstorming with me, I've been told, because you can't offend me by shooting down my ideas, suggesting scrapping entire lines of work, etc. (this is one positive benefit in my particular case of aspergers). Conversely though, it takes a lot of effort for me to constantly remember how sensitive and attached people can be to their ideas. This requires a careful effort to walk on eggshells when pointing out bad designs, dangerous code, etc., but generally is not a problem as long as I formulate a good social protocol for such situations.