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Are Software Developers Naturally Weird?

Posted by Soulskill on from the please-put-your-pants-on dept.

jammag writes "Well, c'mon, yes — let's admit it. As a veteran coder discusses as he looks at his career, software development is brimming with the offbeat, the quirky and the downright odd. As he remembers, there was the 'Software Lyrics' guy and the 'Inappropriate Phone Call' programmer, among others. Are unique types drawn to the profession, or are we 'transformed over time by our darkened working environments and exposure to computer screen radiation?'"

15 of 579 comments (clear)

  1. From what I've discovered... by dsginter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no "normal" - everyone seems to have something. Developers (and geeks, in general) just wear it out there on their sleeve.

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    1. Re:From what I've discovered... by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think it has more to do with the way a geek's brain works. I'll give an example, true story-

      So I'm doing a little hired gun work for a friend who needed someone to set up a bunch of systems at this decently sized office. Now before I even get to his office i hear all these 'stories" about how Jimmy is 'weird" and 'rude' and how they needed him because he is a wiz at code so don't piss him off. Me, I've played gigs behind chicken wire and dodged gunfire before, so don't nothing phase me. A couple of days later some of them in that section of the office are stopping me asking "How do you do it? We can hear you two just a laughing and joking, he is NEVER like that with us!"

      I said "You just got to know how guys like him work, hell I've BEEN a guy like him. When a pro basketball player is shooting free throws and hitting nothing but net, would you disturb him? When he gets that blank look on his face the answer to a problem is popping in his head, when he goes flying off it isn't to be rude, it is because if he doesn't put it down RIGHT NOW he will lose it, maybe forever. The reason I get along fine with him is when I see that blank look come over him I just shut up and let him get into the zone. Do that and all is gravy."

      So this whole thing over the guy being "weird" or "rude" was just that he had anywhere from 3-12 problems at a time floating around his brain and when the answer would come to him he would have to rush to get it all down while it was fresh. By the time I left everybody got along fine with him, because when they saw that "blank look" they would just stop talking and pick back up next time they saw him. It wasn't like he was TRYING to be rude or act like an ass, it was just his head was "too full" and he needed to get stuff out when he fell into the zone. Sometimes you just have to let the guy work, you know?

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      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    2. Re:From what I've discovered... by noidentity · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I've gotten to the level know when someone asks me the 'wrong' question I now answer "You're not asking me the right question". I used to answer it.

      I do this out of habit now when someone asks me a negated question:

      Someone: "Are you not going?"
      Me: "Correct"

      I used to answer "Yes, I'm not going", but "correct" is a more lazy way now. Answering just "yes" when I'm not going just confuses them, even though they are to blame for asking the negated question in the first place. I mean, it's not too hard to grasp. If the answer to "Are you going?" is "no", then clearly the answer to "Are you not going?" is "yes".

    3. Re:From what I've discovered... by RichardJenkins · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think that's very naive approach to verbal communication often adopted by programmers.

      If a person "says" something, then they are using spoken words to convey a particular meaning. In most contexts, using the words "Are you not going" conveys that the speaker does not know for certain if the addressed person is going (though the speaker suspects the addressed is not going - against earlier expectations), and requests that the addressed confirms that they are not going by responding in the negative or belays their suspicions by replying some other way. I suspect this phrase has become prevalent because it is extremely economical - almost universally understood and can convey what I typed in a couple lines in less than a second. Note that it conveys more information than a mere request for the addressed to make their position on a subject clear.

      Most native English speakers are capable of using contextual clues to understand all this intuitively, and will not be consciously aware absurdity that arises when the words are parsed literally. Some people need to resort to intellectually determining the meaning of phrases like this.

      Where I say 'programmers' it may be more appropriate to say 'people who lie further to the autistic side of the autism spectrum than average'

    4. Re:From what I've discovered... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most people operate in an environment where other peoples opinions are more important than the facts. So, they make an effort to fit in and not telegraph things that might be controversial. People in IT, engineering, etc... they operate in an environment where the facts are everything, and the more controversial a fact, the more reward to the person who establishes it.

      It's easy to fit in, and be normal. You spend a bit of money on clothes, you spend a bit of time learning about things that normal people care about, like sports and dancing, you shut up about things that require specialization in the field to understand, and you're done. Other people aren't psychic... they don't see into your weird little brain. If you spend a little time caring to fit in, you do.

      When I turned 30, for a number of personal reasons, I actually made the effort for the first time in my life, and spent years afterwards wondering why I had been unwilling to do so for so long when the effort required was so small and the social rewards were so great. I chalk it up to naivety.

      Software developers seem weird because they don't care to seem normal, they overestimate the effort required, and they underestimate the rewards. It's not that most people are genuinely normal and weirdos have to wear camouflage to fake it. It's that most people wear camouflage, and weirdos refuse to do so.

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      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    5. Re:From what I've discovered... by Swampash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Software types are more analytical, (either as a result or as an cause of them being in their field). As such they see things that Joe Random doesn't even notice.

      When the waitress says "If you need anything else, my name is Betty" Joe Random grunts and takes a bite of his meal. Programmer dude wonders what her name is if he doesn't need any thing else.

      What you are describing is JOE RANDOM seeing things that the programmer doesn't even notice.

      When the waitress says "If you need anything else, my name is Betty" Joe Random instantly knows that what she means is "if you need anything else and you can't immediately find me, just tell any other restaurant employee what you want and that you are being looked after by Betty. I value the opportunity to provide personal service to you because I'm a waitress and much of my take-home pay is in tips from happy customers". Joe Random understands this because he understands people, has eaten in restaurants before, has tipped waitresses before, and he understands the unwritten rules of communication in a wide range of social situations, including this one.

      Programmer dude has problems understanding why people don't explain themselves clearly, when in fact the problem is that he has no sense of communication in a social context. Joe Random and Betty just exchanged a massive amount of information, referring to customs, past experiences, the hierarchy of the restaurant staff, Betty's personal situation, possible future events, and Joe Random's understanding with nothing more than one verbal sentence from Betty and a grunt from Joe Random.

      Programmer dude noticed none of this.

    6. Re:From what I've discovered... by Imrik · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or the programmer understood the same things that Joe Random did but also amused himself by parsing the grammar literally.

    7. Re:From what I've discovered... by Ifandbut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not that most people are genuinely normal and weirdos have to wear camouflage to fake it. It's that most people wear camouflage, and weirdos refuse to do so.

      Wouldn't life be better if we all did not wear camouflage?

    8. Re:From what I've discovered... by Chrisje · · Score: 5, Insightful

      All of you people are delusional. I have weird friends in tech, definitely, but then I have to admit most of my friends are in tech, and this is a tech forum. All of this "I am a bigger geek than you" is a pissing contest without any merit.

      To illustrate this, I had a girlfriend once. Lived together with her for three years. She was a delightful woman whom I met in her dad's little Classical Music and Jazz CD store. She was completely non-technical and functioned relatively normally in most settings, but by god was she a geek. A classical music geek with a penchant for literature and some other culturally tinged stuff. Spoke Czech, Swedish and English, was highly intelligent and had a shitty job for a while. Now she works at a law firm that deals with patents and patent law (Patentbyrå), as an assistant to patent lawyers. She was so goddamn geeky at heart she would put most of us on /. to shame. It's just a kind of weirdness and geekiness most of "us" here on /. won't recognize if it kicked us in the arse, that is.

      Maybe your average software developer can do magic under the hood, but he's not motivated to. Maybe (s)he can do magic under the hood in bed, in a kitchen, on a squash court, with a chemistry lab or with a bass, but you'll never know it. On the other hand, one of the most common beliefs amongst humans is that one is different or not normal. Superior, even.

      This planet is filled with weird fuckers. The trick is figuring out what's weird about whom.

  2. Talk about slow news day by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's a tip: everybody loves to think they're unique and "weird." The most conventional, boring, person you know is going to describe how wacky their party was if you ask.

    In reality, there's no such thing as "weird" because there's no such thing as "normal." If you encounter somebody you think embodies "normal", well, you just don't know them well-enough. (I bet a lot of people thought Tom Cruise was normal before he started jumping on Oprah's couch.)

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  3. No, there are not by ZouPrime · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Strange, weird and unique peoples work in every sphere of society. You only think coders are special because you happen to hang out with coders and not, say, accountants. If you were hanging out with accountants, you would find accountants a weird and diverse bunch too, but instead you have a stereotypical view of how accountants act, just like the rest of the population have a stereotypical view of coders.

  4. Re:Asperger's syndrome. by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    terratory

    Sigh. Whenever we have these "we only seem weird to you cretinous neurotypicals because we're geniuses" circle jerks the sloppy spelling and grammar really starts to grate.

    And actually it's completely back to front. We socially lazy people are good at programming because we have lots and lots of free time that the regular folks spend being sociable.

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    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  5. Re:Asperger's syndrome. by JohnFen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We socially lazy people are good at programming because we have lots and lots of free time that the regular folks spend being sociable.

    I think this is the largest truth of it. Why are we good at things technological? Because we're so interested in it that we've spent an enormous amount of time and effort on it. Time and effort that had to come at the expense of neglecting other activities.

    Also, we tend to be a bit elitist in attitude and relish all things that set us apart. So we probably think we're weirder than we really are.

    Also also, people are just weird. I've never known a normal person in my entire life.

  6. viewpoint by ei4anb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Weird" is an irregular adjective that varies with the pronoun. An example illustrates best:
    I am interesting
    You are eccentric
    He is weird

  7. Re:Developers... by andre_pl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Every single programming question I deployed on the net was received with an elitist disregard, sending me to read tons of papers and stuff I don't really have an use for, specially because even if I try I can't understand it. They assume you have high education in MIT and you had to start from mainframes like they did or something.

    Game programming is a very difficult field, are you expecting these people to just write code for you? sometimes you really do need to understand the fundamentals in order to be able to write the code, If people are giving you links to tons of papers to help solve your problem then I would argue that they are being helpful, its not their fault that you "don't really have an use for" it, or that you don't understand why the background information is important. it sounds to me like you think programming is as easy as "give me teh codez" and then pasting it all together, which may be true for a subset of simple problems, but when developing your own game, its simply not that easy, and you really do need to study and read, a LOT. Even if your game is going to be really similar to some other game out there, you can guarantee that the code is very very different, and nobody can just throw you some code to solve your problems, you need to study and read and understand, and THEN you can write the code yourself... if you need to ask questions in order to create your game, then you don't have enough background knowledge and you really do need to read the materials they're giving you... EVERY programming problem can be solved with enough reading and understanding of the works of the giants whose shoulders you stand on, and nobody will have a more appropriate solution to your problem than you, you just need to find that solution yourself.