You can't impress developers. So don't try

Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by eksemplar on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:16PM (#18348499)

I manage quite a lot of developers and I think the article has a point.

Out of all the different IT personal I manage, developers are the only ones who seem to think they have to be correct all the time. That doesn’t exactly brew the best atmosphere, because how can you be?

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by gnulinux on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:23PM (#18348553)

Where are developers like this? I've never encountered a person like that in my life ("have to be correct all the time"). Is this specific to FAANG? Which city? I'm familiar with startups in the Bay Area and Boston.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by abraae on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:50PM (#18348732)

I agree with the sentiment though I'd reword it as "developers need to know that their understanding is correct at all times".

This is uncontroversial, we can't build things well if our understanding is wrong, whether of user requirements, budget/political process, technology, existing infrastructure/whatever.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by gnulinux on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:58PM (#18348792)

Sure, "developers need to know that their understanding is correct at all times", this describes most if not all developers I know but this is hardly a bad thing and in the conversation above this was used in a bad connotation ("that doesn’t exactly brew the best atmosphere"). I'm even more confused now.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by brandonmenc on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @04:23PM (#18348980)

> Where are developers like this? I've never encountered a person like that in my life ("have to be correct all the time").

Seriously? Every nerdy subculture is full of these people.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by icebraining on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @04:10PM (#18348885)

I've worked with such developers. It's not that they can literally never accept to be wrong, but their first instinct is always to deny any failures in their work and always point out flaws in the work of others, even if they're obviously untrue.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by mooreds on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @04:18PM (#18348948)

I wrote a post on this over a decade ago: http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/134

It pointed out what I thought were special reasons why developers think they have the answers, even in disciplines wildly different than software development.

Includes:

* need to ask questions

* detail orientation

* knowing (and being well compensated for) knowing about something difficult

I'm older and wiser now and hold my tongue when talking to experts in other fields, but I did my fair share of, say, reading contracts or patents in my day.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by eksemplar on Thursday November 01, 2018 @03:20AM (#18351917)

This is an excellent write up of exactly what I meant.

I should have said arrogance really, young developers often remind me of the conversation between yoda and kenobi on the arrogance of anakin in the clone wars.

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Re:You can't impress developers. So don't try by internet555 on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @05:45PM (#18349532)

I work with a guy like this. The rest of us laugh at him but he thinks we are intimidated by his technical genius and immense capability for Machiavellian political maneuvering. In reality he doesn’t take direction well but he’s around because if you let him call you stupid a few times he’ll do a bunch of your work to try and show off.

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