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Peering at my peers
Nov. 8th, 2011 12:46 pmIn my job I write software. It's a curious world inhabited by some odd people. People often think I'm odd, so it's reassuring to spend time among the downright peculiar.
I remember Danish Dennis who sometimes didn't realise that he was speaking German instead of English and was puzzled that the manager didn't like him working until midnight then not turning up until noon. Then there was the one who never spoke to anyone if he could avoid it and never ate lunch, and the one who had duplicate copies of sci-fi films in different formats.
But the incomprehensible thing isn't their strange habits or their autistic spectrum interpersonal skills. What bothers me is that they don't notice when they are bad at what they do, and they don't want to improve their skills.
Sometimes I get asked about stuff and I'm met with blank looks. Fair enough (my explanation may be pants and/or some things are hard to grasp), but there's stuff you should know. With a certain amount of experience, some stuff should be easy, or at least familiar, and if it isn't and you don't want it to become so, surely you're doing the wrong job? Learning is a huge part of doing a techie job.
Finding out something new is exciting. Ooh, shiny! Doing things I've never done before, or just doing the same things in a better way is enough to make my day. Doing the same old stuff is depressing and diminishes me.
I remember Danish Dennis who sometimes didn't realise that he was speaking German instead of English and was puzzled that the manager didn't like him working until midnight then not turning up until noon. Then there was the one who never spoke to anyone if he could avoid it and never ate lunch, and the one who had duplicate copies of sci-fi films in different formats.
But the incomprehensible thing isn't their strange habits or their autistic spectrum interpersonal skills. What bothers me is that they don't notice when they are bad at what they do, and they don't want to improve their skills.
Sometimes I get asked about stuff and I'm met with blank looks. Fair enough (my explanation may be pants and/or some things are hard to grasp), but there's stuff you should know. With a certain amount of experience, some stuff should be easy, or at least familiar, and if it isn't and you don't want it to become so, surely you're doing the wrong job? Learning is a huge part of doing a techie job.
Finding out something new is exciting. Ooh, shiny! Doing things I've never done before, or just doing the same things in a better way is enough to make my day. Doing the same old stuff is depressing and diminishes me.
