Re: Please remember that geeks have their own social mores.

I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but your post could be read as a defense of the rudeness and harshness frequently seen in the geek community: "I don't have great social skills and I'm way smarter than you, so don't complain if I'm rude." I've heard people make this exact sort of justification for their own behavior.

That may be fine in "geek culture," but it isn't going to fly anywhere else. Rudeness is rudeness. In business settings it may be tolerated for a while, but only until management can find someone who can do the job just as well AND with more civility. In customer relation settings, rudeness is rarely tolerated at all.

Social skills are learned, not inborn. Anyone can learn to speak diplomatically, to shut up and listen to someone who might just know more, to consider the thoughts and needs of others before blasting them, to start a comment with "I'm sure you didn't mean it this way". A little study and some practice are all it takes. Having a "high IQ" is no excuse for not trying: there are plenty of "high IQ" people and geniuses in the non-geek world, and they manage just fine. Nor do they "make [social graces] #1"--unless they're in high school.

A little civility, a bit of social skill can go a long way. The geeks who matter--at least to me--are the ones who have not only skills and the brains, but also the humility, the ability and the willingness to interact with the rest of the world. Or to put it another way, maybe we should get into the habit of asking ourselves, "What would Larry do?" ;)

Comment on Re: Please remember that geeks have their own social mores.

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Re^2: Please remember that geeks have their own social mores. by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Feb 24, 2008 at 03:10 UTC
I believe I pointed out the very same thing in my original post - that social skills are learned, just like programming skills. But, some people learn some skills more easily than others. In my experience, the predisposition to those skills that we find excellent for FOSS developers tends to be found without the predisposition to more social skills. Of course, brian_d_foy is absolutely correct that there are FOSS devs who are very social. I personally find that those people are usually the older devs with more experience in business. In other words, they have had reason to devote time to learning social skills. They usually weren't that way at 25, when they were most productive in terms of FOSS development. And, as for what Larry would do, I suspect that he was socially inept at 25-30, too. Most people at the JPL then and now tend to be so. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply]

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Re^2: Please remember that geeks have their own social mores.
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Feb 24, 2008 at 03:10 UTC

In my experience

brian_d_foy

And, as for what Larry would do, I suspect that he was socially inept at 25-30, too. Most people at the JPL then and now tend to be so.

My criteria for good software:

Does it work?
Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

[reply]