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> Sure, there's always tension between community and corporate needs. Again, who would you rather have managing that tension? Some introverted developer who onl

> Sure, there's always tension between community and corporate needs. Again, who would you rather have managing that tension? Some introverted developer who only sees the world through the lens of the code as its already written, or somebody with better perspective and people skills? And here we go again, someone calling all developers introverts. Could we please stop that nonsense? There are certainly some introverts between developers, but not more than in any other high skill profession.

Jgrubb 12y ago
That's not how I read it at all, and I'm somewhat introverted and definitely a developer. Nonsense is taking a comment like this so personally and blowing it way out of proportion.
notacoward 12y ago
I don't believe, nor did I imply, that all developers are introverts. However, presenting at conferences etc. takes a more than average degree of extroversion. IIRC, public speaking is one of the most common fears even among average people. A majority of developers certainly do fall below that threshold. Besides E vs. I, there's also an aspect of developers wanting to focus on their one favorite task and not context-switch to an entirely different one. For whatever reason, many projects do lack any developers with the skills or inclination to perform the community-manager role well.
- npsimons 12y ago
  Exactly. Even among other technical groups, you will find those who would rather be "in the weeds" than having to deal with people problems (people suck).
- sbilstein 12y ago
  > A majority of developers do fall below that threshold Do you have statistics to back this up? Presentations at engineering conferences are almost always given by developers, often one's who have dual roles such as evangelists or sales engineers but sometimes by heads down individual contributors. I think this view in the tech industry that most developers are introverts or "lack the skills" to interact socially for business is myopic; perpetuating the stereotype might help for division of labor but I don't think notion is true at all. Engineers are overrepresented as CEOs in the United States (33%) and that is certainly a very public facing role.

Jgrubb 12y ago

That's not how I read it at all, and I'm somewhat introverted and definitely a developer. Nonsense is taking a comment like this so personally and blowing it way out of proportion.

notacoward 12y ago

I don't believe, nor did I imply, that all developers are introverts. However, presenting at conferences etc. takes a more than average degree of extroversion. IIRC, public speaking is one of the most common fears even among average people. A majority of developers certainly do fall below that threshold. Besides E vs. I, there's also an aspect of developers wanting to focus on their one favorite task and not context-switch to an entirely different one. For whatever reason, many projects do lack any developers with the skills or inclination to perform the community-manager role well.

npsimons 12y ago
Exactly. Even among other technical groups, you will find those who would rather be "in the weeds" than having to deal with people problems (people suck).
sbilstein 12y ago
> A majority of developers do fall below that threshold Do you have statistics to back this up? Presentations at engineering conferences are almost always given by developers, often one's who have dual roles such as evangelists or sales engineers but sometimes by heads down individual contributors. I think this view in the tech industry that most developers are introverts or "lack the skills" to interact socially for business is myopic; perpetuating the stereotype might help for division of labor but I don't think notion is true at all. Engineers are overrepresented as CEOs in the United States (33%) and that is certainly a very public facing role.