Lack of empathy abounds in this profession. I am increasingly convinced lack of empathy is over-represented among developers. It's a controversial thought, and feel free to shoot it down. But the article posted here is just one of countless tales that have been posted here. Examples of abrasive behaviour in developer circles are too numerous to list (in real life and online).
There are many people in the computing field (alive and dead) with many accomplishments to their name but utter devoid of empathy and social skills. Despite that, many of these figures are idolised by other developers, or their behaviour tolerated.
It's not just a lack of empathy towards fellow developers, lack of empathy is even more marked when applied to "non-technical" users who are often patronisingly viewed as clueless idiots.
So yes, my anecdotal experience of developers (online and working in person with colleagues) is that lack of empathy towards other developers and users runs through this profession.
> There are many people in the computing field (alive and dead) with many accomplishments to their name but utter devoid of empathy and social skills. Despite that, many of these figures are idolised by other developers, or their behaviour tolerated.
I guess that's natural, isn't it? We value people by their feats, not by how well or bad they treated their fellows. I've seen this interesting discussion happen several times with other fields, such as music or arts: lots of people might almost worship someone, e.g. a famous singer, not even knowing (or caring, to be honest) about how they were violent with their spouse or were racist or something like that.
Practical example: Pablo Picasso. One of the most renowned Spanish artists. His work praised everywhere and every time. Now go have a look at his personal life...
So it's not a problem in our profession. It's more general: a defining characteristic of how we humans generally tend to appreciate other people's work.
You know I have been trying to figure out the right word for it. You nailed it. The more frustrating part is when someone gets into this mode they expect empathy towards them but do not display it at all.
We all have been the newbie.
We all have been stuck with a program that does weird things.
We do not all have years of exp on some particular tech under our belts.
Not everyone is interested in the same things.
Not everything is perfect the first time, sometimes something is better than nothing.
My moment where I learned this was when I showed someone how to use the tool 'wc'. It took something where they were manually counting a file to mere seconds. I was able to help them and saved them days of work. They just did not know. I helped them and did not even realize it until someone pointed it out. I thought they were being silly not to use it, but then realized they just did not know. They did not even know enough to ask the right question.
FOSS drama is documented in mailing lists. I guess it is unfair to compare that with the local boat club that don't have any documented debates or discussions. For all I know the boat club could be terrible people.
I worked in another profession for 15 years before becoming a professional developer. I can't say definitely that empathy is much lower among devs than among other people I've worked with. But I got used to it.
There are many people in the computing field (alive and dead) with many accomplishments to their name but utter devoid of empathy and social skills. Despite that, many of these figures are idolised by other developers, or their behaviour tolerated.
It's not just a lack of empathy towards fellow developers, lack of empathy is even more marked when applied to "non-technical" users who are often patronisingly viewed as clueless idiots.
So yes, my anecdotal experience of developers (online and working in person with colleagues) is that lack of empathy towards other developers and users runs through this profession.