3 ms·

It didn't come up for us, we were doing a hardware project. What did come up was the fact that this one guy in particular somehow knew how to do our job (whethe

It didn't come up for us, we were doing a hardware project. What did come up was the fact that this one guy in particular somehow knew how to do our job (whether that be the metalwork, the electronics, the firmware...) better than us, about half a dozen times. I guess the sociopath attitude thrives in that environment.

fennecfoxen 12y ago
Perhaps it does. My encounter with a small group of Zynga programmers happened on Caltrain a week or three after the little kerfluffle about RSU grants being cancelled (they had originally inquired about a game I'd been playing on the train). We had a bit of a conversation about the incident; their conclusion was pretty much "sucks to be them".
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
People with egos and poor social skills abound in many tech companies, unfortunately. I think the sociopath label is applied too liberally, meaning you were probably dealing with a plain old asshole (real sociopaths have real social skills and make you like them so they can better manipulate you).
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  Sociopaths try to manipulate you if they think they can get something out of it. If they think you're just beneath them, they revel in being asshats at you and knowing that there is nothing you can do about it. The measure of a man is making sure that you do something about it anyway.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    Perhaps you haven't met a real sociopath before? There are alot of them, they are always nice to you and use your positive feeling for them against you. They typically go into management. I have never seen a sociopath go the asshole route: they aren't going to do something so socially stupid, it doesn't serve their goals at all. I see people on HN a lot confusing low social IQ (what assholes have) for high social IQ (sociopaths); it is just very wrong.

3 ms·

It didn't come up for us, we were doing a hardware project. What did come up was the fact that this one guy in particular somehow knew how to do our job (whethe

by spiritplumber 12y ago

fennecfoxen 12y ago
Perhaps it does. My encounter with a small group of Zynga programmers happened on Caltrain a week or three after the little kerfluffle about RSU grants being cancelled (they had originally inquired about a game I'd been playing on the train). We had a bit of a conversation about the incident; their conclusion was pretty much "sucks to be them".
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
People with egos and poor social skills abound in many tech companies, unfortunately. I think the sociopath label is applied too liberally, meaning you were probably dealing with a plain old asshole (real sociopaths have real social skills and make you like them so they can better manipulate you).
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  Sociopaths try to manipulate you if they think they can get something out of it. If they think you're just beneath them, they revel in being asshats at you and knowing that there is nothing you can do about it. The measure of a man is making sure that you do something about it anyway.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    Perhaps you haven't met a real sociopath before? There are alot of them, they are always nice to you and use your positive feeling for them against you. They typically go into management. I have never seen a sociopath go the asshole route: they aren't going to do something so socially stupid, it doesn't serve their goals at all. I see people on HN a lot confusing low social IQ (what assholes have) for high social IQ (sociopaths); it is just very wrong.