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Narcissistic College Graduates In the Workplace?
SpuriousLogic writes "I work as a senior software engineer, and a fair amount of my time is spent interviewing new developers. I have seen a growing trend of what I would call 'TV reality' college graduates — kids who graduated school in the last few years and seem to have a view of the workplace that is very much fashioned by TV programs, where 22-year-olds lead billion-dollar corporate mergers in Paris and jet around the world. Several years ago I worked at a company that did customization for the software they sold. It was not full-on consultant work, but some aspects of it were 'consulting light,' and did involve travel, some overseas. Almost every college graduate I interviewed fully expected to be sent overseas on their first assignment. They were very disappointed when told they were most likely to end up in places like Decater, IL and Cedar Rapids, IA, as only the most senior people fly overseas, because of the cost. Additionally, I see people in this age bracket expecting almost constant rewards. One new hire told me that he thought he had a good chance at an award because he had taught himself Enterprise Java Beans. When told that learning new tech is an expected part of being a developer, he argued that he had learned it by himself, and that made it different. So today I see an article about the growing narcissism of students, and I want to ask this community: are you seeing the sorts of 'crashing down to Earth' expectations of college grads described here? Is working with this age bracket more challenging than others? Do they produce work that is above or below your expectations of a recent college grad?" We discussed a similar question from the point of view of the young employees a few months back.
So what do I get? A ferrari? week in Tahiti?
Does the geek cred I gain by posting on Slashdot mean I automatically become CTO?
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Do you still wear an onion on your belt?
I deserve your job, because my mommy and daddy said I was very speshul!
They just don't realize that the show is, "The Office".
I have been sent exciting places like Indianapolis.
Oh, I used to lie awake at nights, dreaming of being sent to Indianapolis. Or was it nightmares.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Huh, my middle paragraph got eaten somehow.
In fact, I'm going to go all racist and suggest that you'd enjoy reading http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/ . But it's OK because I'm part white myself and identify with at least a third of the stuff they cover. It has really helped me understand myself and others in a way that is simple, succinct, and wrong :P
Quote at bottom of /. page:
"You will be advanced socially, without any special effort on your part."
Well, there you go.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
Uh, guy? I think you're the one they're talking about in the article.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
"In my college advanced VB class"
I stopped reading your comment there.
And what happened to the future of the ancient Greek people? Conquest by Alexander the Great and annexation by the Romans.
My generation is afflicted entitlement mentalities and an aversion to actually doing anything to better themselves. It's sad.
Hmm, and this group constitutes Barack Obama's most ardent supporters.
We're doomed.
Do NOT post this on Facebook!
What?
Let me translate that from the original Greek for you: "Hey, you kids get off my lawn!"
God, schmod. I want my monkey man!
I agree with you almost completely except for who to blame. It wasn't Mom and Dad who told everyone they were special, it was that evil, evil man Mr. Rogers.
Your brain is not a computer.
I am a tech writer, you insensitive clod!
Spellcheckers are for pussies, I just read everything twice ...
... sometimes.
As a recent engineering grad, I can attest that I wasn't exactly impressed by the typical duties of most of the positions I was interviewing for. I always pictured myself doing more R&D and design with my engineering degree, but that wasn't really what I was seeing out there. I've since decided to change my career path a bit go to grad school. After I finish I expect I will try to work as a technology entrepreneur or a professor at a university.
Well, if you're going to get into how they compromise reality to simplify production (as opposed to deliberately distorting it for feelgood purposes) you have to note that everybody on these sitcoms seems to have a collective, unspoken agreement only to use 3 of the 4 walls in every room they live, work, or play in.
I'm nothing special, I've just been using computers and programming for a long time. I learned BASIC when I was 7.
But you are special. You are a special kind of asshole, the kind who thinks "Why oh why isn't everyone just like me?"
My god, you must be one insufferable twit.
Except that I am out drinking, having fun, and getting laid. I'm also making a nice chunk of change while I do it. :)
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
And by laid, I mean with actual 3d live humans who don't ask for a credit card number before they talk to you.
Sadly, I read too fast and saw this as "3rd level" human beings, and wondered immediately what game was being played.
Your post here, as well as your listing of experience, only proves that you are exactly the example narcissist for the article. "advanced VB"? Are you kidding? Is this like "advanced dirt eating" or "advanced mud pie making"?
You probably should have focused more on an SQL class since your sig of SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good' would only return the word 'good' and not any results. That is, if the syntax was even correct.
A lot of bosses have Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
How can I get this? Are there courses I can go on?
Get your own free personal location tracker
I am a tech writer, you insensitive clod!
Not for long! I'm programming robots to do technical writing.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
The most entertaining way of seeing this in action is watching Simon Cowell telling the utterly terrible American X-Factor contestants just how much they suck.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
Stick one of these up on the wall, and just go with it.
Yes, I have worked with six languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX, XML and TXT.
Don't understand why I can't get a job?
A lot of bosses have Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
How can I get this? Are there courses I can go on?
Sure, just become the type of person who throws an awards ceremony for themselves after tying their own shoes sans shitting their pants in the process.
Charles II of Spain, for example...
Oh dear.
I think I might be a narcissist too.
A better one than you, mind.
I stand corrected.
It's much easier to pretend to agree with a narcissist than to argue with them.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Oh and I got to crawl inside a tank in Summer 2008 so I could measure and modify a cable. Woo. ;-)
Unless you convinced them that the tank needed to be moving and firing off at least a few rounds for you to properly test the modification, I sense a missed opportunity.
:(
I'm assuming you meant tank as in army not water. If you meant water and still gave a "Woo", if feel I would suddenly regret all of my education past 6th grade.
You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
<?php
$reverse = strrev($string);
echo $reverse;
?>
Do note that during such tests you should allow access to the documentation. If you don't, you're selecting for people who are good at memorization, not people who can code well.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
Seems like the narcissists don't agree with your ideas. They seem to have all the mod points.
If international travel is high on your list of job satisfaction goals, you can achieve it. You may need to do extra work or take a bit of a salary cut to get it, but you can do it.
By getting a job as a stewardess
Except that I am out drinking, having fun, and getting laid. I'm also making a nice chunk of change while I do it. :)
You're getting a nice chunk of change while getting laid? That explains your post somewhat.
When the policeman of the tie, rule you violate, hello punishment of the kitty?
And, or reasons of irony, I almost always fail to document those scripts.
Easy. Write a Perl script to document Perl scripts, and you won't even have an infinite loop.
What does the word *whoosh* mean? The way it's pronounced seems remarkably like the sound I heard when I read your comment just now... please tell me what this marvellous word means!
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
yah, 'cept the students have degrees like EE, ME, CS and MBA etc and still need lotsa help forming complete and accurate sentences. Once in awhile, one almost says what they think they are saying. Usually, they are able to go to the bathroom by themselves.
rewriting history since 2109