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When Smart People Make Bad Employees More
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When Smart People Make Bad Employees
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Short, shameful confession
(Score:5, Interesting)
by __roo (86767) writes:
on Wednesday January 05 2011, @02:28PM (#34768188)
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I've been that jerk in the past -- the guy that everyone listened to because I was right and came up with really good software, but people hated dealing with me and basically shut up when I was in the room. I slowly discovered that if I stopped acting like a jerk, people still respected me, but they stopped putting up a fight. People even went out of their way to help me. It was a lot easier to do my job, and I'm convinced that I was actually able to produce better code because of the reduced number of bureaucratic headaches.
I wish I'd figured it out earlier.
Hmm, on the other hand, I was asked to do more stuff because people were less afraid of me. So I guess... be careful what you wish for?
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Re: confession
(Score:5, Insightful)
by drooling-dog (189103) writes:
on Wednesday January 05 2011, @03:01PM (#34768712)
And thereby do we traverse the tortuous path from intelligence to wisdom...
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(Score:2)
by tophermeyer (1573841) writes:
I wish I had a mod point for you.
Re:
(Score:3)
by swillden (191260) writes:
And thereby do we traverse the tortuous path from intelligence to wisdom...
And at the end of the road we realize that we should act just as we did in the beginning, not because it's a more productive way to work, but so we can get a little damned peace and quiet!
Re:
(Score:2)
by swillden (191260) writes:
There's no end. It's arrogant to even think otherwise.
And not very funny.
Re:
(Score:2)
by Geminii (954348) writes:
I once went from being a smart jerk to a Helpful Harry and back to a smart jerk.
As a young smart jerk, I was promoted in a large organisation's technical division to a higher-level team. I decided that this was a chance to see what all this 'teamwork' and 'getting along' stuff was all about. So I reinvented myself: ate better, exercised more, wore corporate dress code, listened intently to what other people had to say, collaborated, etc. Drank the Kool-Aid, basically.
And I got completely screwed over. S
Re:
(Score:2)
by ShannaraFan (533326) writes:
I guess I'm somewhere in between. There are certain people here that I consider worthless, repeating the same mistakes over an over, most problems originate with them, etc.. Those people tend to think I'm a jerk, because I don't pull any punches when I get sick of dealing with the same stuff for the fifth time. Others here consider me invaluable, and will repeatedly involve me in projects or other critical work that HAS to be done right. Coincidentally, those same people share my opinion of the first gr
Re:
(Score:2)
by stewbacca (1033764) writes:
I would have expected that a self proclaimed brilliant person would know the difference between 'could care less' and the proper use as in 'couldn't care less'. You did lump yourself in with the brilliant people after all.
Lemme guess, you are in the Jerk category?
Re:
(Score:3)
by martin-boundary (547041) writes:
Ahem.
Pointing out grammatical mistakes cannot actually imply that one is a jerk [Webster, n. (slang), a foolish, stupid or otherwise contemptible person].
Re:
(Score:2)
by stewbacca (1033764) writes:
The fact you felt the need to challenge his intelligence by pointing out his misuse of a commonly misused phase makes my point nicely.
Of course it is pointless trying to explain what is jerkish about your response, because, as a jerk, you wouldn't be expected to know any better.
Short, shameful confession (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been that jerk in the past -- the guy that everyone listened to because I was right and came up with really good software, but people hated dealing with me and basically shut up when I was in the room. I slowly discovered that if I stopped acting like a jerk, people still respected me, but they stopped putting up a fight. People even went out of their way to help me. It was a lot easier to do my job, and I'm convinced that I was actually able to produce better code because of the reduced number of bureaucratic headaches.
I wish I'd figured it out earlier.
Hmm, on the other hand, I was asked to do more stuff because people were less afraid of me. So I guess... be careful what you wish for?
Re: confession (Score:5, Insightful)
And thereby do we traverse the tortuous path from intelligence to wisdom...
Re: (Score:2)
I wish I had a mod point for you.
Re: (Score:3)
And thereby do we traverse the tortuous path from intelligence to wisdom...
And at the end of the road we realize that we should act just as we did in the beginning, not because it's a more productive way to work, but so we can get a little damned peace and quiet!
Re: (Score:2)
There's no end. It's arrogant to even think otherwise.
And not very funny.
Re: (Score:2)
I once went from being a smart jerk to a Helpful Harry and back to a smart jerk.
As a young smart jerk, I was promoted in a large organisation's technical division to a higher-level team. I decided that this was a chance to see what all this 'teamwork' and 'getting along' stuff was all about. So I reinvented myself: ate better, exercised more, wore corporate dress code, listened intently to what other people had to say, collaborated, etc. Drank the Kool-Aid, basically.
And I got completely screwed over. S
Re: (Score:2)
I guess I'm somewhere in between. There are certain people here that I consider worthless, repeating the same mistakes over an over, most problems originate with them, etc.. Those people tend to think I'm a jerk, because I don't pull any punches when I get sick of dealing with the same stuff for the fifth time. Others here consider me invaluable, and will repeatedly involve me in projects or other critical work that HAS to be done right. Coincidentally, those same people share my opinion of the first gr
Re: (Score:2)
I would have expected that a self proclaimed brilliant person would know the difference between 'could care less' and the proper use as in 'couldn't care less'. You did lump yourself in with the brilliant people after all.
Lemme guess, you are in the Jerk category?
Re: (Score:3)
Pointing out grammatical mistakes cannot actually imply that one is a jerk [Webster, n. (slang), a foolish, stupid or otherwise contemptible person].
Re: (Score:2)
The fact you felt the need to challenge his intelligence by pointing out his misuse of a commonly misused phase makes my point nicely.
Of course it is pointless trying to explain what is jerkish about your response, because, as a jerk, you wouldn't be expected to know any better.