Want To Work For a Cool Tech Company? Hone Your Social Skills

jfruh writes Big companies like Google may need to fill seats with high-skilled workers, but smaller companies — which often fit the profile of the hip workplaces people dream of — still have the luxury of picking and choosing. That's why applicants' social skills and "cultural fit" are so important, which may shatter your dreams of tech as a clique-free meritocracy.

Comments

Want to work for a startup that fails?

[Anonymous Coward]

Want to work for a startup which is guaranteed to fail? Go look for employers who care more about having fun than getting shit done.
Don't like working with nerds and introverts? Then your tech business will fail.

"Culture Fit" is an excuse for discrimination

[ragethehotey]

Rich white frat boy "tech founders" like being around other rich white frat boys. Anyone that says otherwise, has never set foot in present day San Francisco.

Re:"Culture Fit" is an excuse for discrimination

[sribe]

Rich white frat boy "tech founders" like being around other rich white frat boys. Anyone that says otherwise, has never set foot in present day San Francisco.

What I keep reading here about "brogrammer" culture just blows my mind. I struggle to figure out if it is a generational thing, or subculture based on location. But I can assure you, it was nothing like that at startups in the Boston area in the late 80's... Particularly the attitude toward women--I assure you, anybody that had acted like some of the stories we've read lately, would have been instantly fired--and the rest of the guys would have been happy to see such a person booted out.

Re:"Culture Fit" is an excuse for discrimination

[cayenne8]

Rich white frat boy "tech founders" like being around other rich white frat boys.

You had me at rich.

:)

But seriously...if they got rich by knowing enough tech to found and build a startup, what's your beef with them? And, of course, most people like to hang out, and associate with people that reflect the same traits and beliefs that they do, that's just human nature.

But if YOU are a flexible person, you should be able to get along with most anyone. Me? I went through high school and ran with many crowds. I hung out with the potheads in the parking lot, I knew a lot of the jocks and went to parties with all strata of kids, many of whom had FAR more money than my family did, but that didn't stop me from connecting and making friends of all types.

I found that working early jobs in the service industry helped....bus boy, waiter, bar tender, retail sales all helped me learn even more about how to work with people.

Same skills took me from there to college and later to my professional life. Know what? I still am able to generally speak with and deal with and even schmooze with folks of all types in the world.

Learn some people skills, and don't get so hung up on what other people are like. So what if it is a rich white frat guy.

Learn to deal with them and it might get you in the circles of people that are getting wealthier and help you do the same.

General applicability

[Sneftel]

Want to work in a decent, non-dead-end job, with the opportunity to advance your career and make a meaningful difference to the world? Learn to interact with people. Learn empathy, learn communications skills, learn to temper your urge towards condescension and dismissal. If you're a coder, it's 50% of your job, assuming you're doing your job right.

Re:I'll never be employed

[Buck Feta]

I like people well enough, but I'm a Morlock, not an Eloi. I want to get things done, not gab with your about the brats you spawned to replace yourself.

Right on, man! (or woman!). I like your personality type. I think it adds to the cultural diversity of a workplace. Many places I've worked have had the person who "tells it like it is", and mostly, unless they're overtly hostile, people appreciate someone like you and learn to get along. "That Bruce is such a grump." "I know - I showed him a picture of my kid and he said 'I don't care about your kid'. He's such a character!" Seriously, a team comprised of diverse personalities may even be more productive than a team of people who all just want to show eachother pictures of their kids all the time. Be productive and don't rock the boat - don't be someone you're not.

A what?

[smellsofbikes]

>your dreams of tech as a clique-free meritocracy

How is a meritocracy not just another type of clique?
How is hiring people for their excellent social skills not a meritocracy?
There are so many implicit values embedded in the statement that it becomes a declaration of an extremely specific type of workplace the submitter (or editor) wants and thinks everyone else should want as well. It's the equivalent of the guy without a knife asserting that the guy with the knife should drop it and fight like a man.

Mmm...no.

[PopeRatzo]

Want To Work For a Cool Tech Company?

Thanks, I'm good.

Re:Skilled Introverted programmers need not apply

[dbrueck]

Nah, you can be /somewhat/ introverted and still do well. But the fact of the matter is that social skills *are* crucial. It's not discriminatory, it's business, and a person who can't communicate well, who can't interact well, is a net negative, no matter how awesome a coder they are. It's not fair to the business and it's not fair to the rest of the team to have to "deal" with the guy or gal who just can't mesh with the team.

I've wasted so much time dealing with prima donnas and socially inept "geniuses" that I don't hire either these days. The very first interview is always a personality interview, and if I struggle seeing the person fitting in with the rest of the team, I don't even bother moving on to a technical/skills phase of the interview.

That doesn't mean we don't hire people that just geek out on tech, but they are people who are passionate but also kind of laid back, people with a good sense of humor, people who can express themselves clearly and can communicate well, people who don't get offended when someone disagrees with them, people just cocky enough to take some risks but who aren't arrogant - they have individual humility while still being very bullish on what they can do to help the team.

If a candidate doesn't have these qualities, then I genuinely don't care if they are the greatest developer in the history of the world - without the right personality type, they are just too much of a hassle and I pass on them and let them be some other company's problem.

a thought

[buddyglass]

One reason companies offer all the silly perks (pool table, excessive free food, etc.): it's a way to compensate employees tax-free. I can pay my guys $1000 more apiece but they'll only take home $700. Maybe $1000 worth of "free perks" and creating the perception of a "fun culture" offers better "bang for my buck" in terms of attracting and retaining employees than the extra $700 in take-home pay. Then again, maybe not. But I'm willing to entertain the argument that it does.