The first time I encountered them they were in a herd. I was at the Philadelphia launch of this new fangled framework called .Net that was going to bring us all together under a big development net (ooooooh, now I get it!). I don't remember the questions they asked, just what they were wearing. Java hats, Sun tee shirts. One said “Microsucks” They were asking about flaws in the system rumors they had heard about bugs, and all sorts of things that were making the speaker uncomfortable. I didn't understand why on earth they would come to Philly, wait in line, just to make someone uncomfortable. I figured it had to be an isolated indecent.
It's not. It's at every group, event, talk..etc I have been to. There is always that one guy in the audience who knows more than the speaker. Who knows the software sucks. Who just NEEDS everyone to know how smart he is. “How do you do that with a closed source compiler?” “Why spend so much time focusing on an IDE and not the code?” “So, what can you tell me about multi-level hierarchy for ITypedLists?”
Who are these people? Why do they do this? The worst was at a talk about advanced Java Script by John Resig this past year. There were these two kids that would ask questions, and then if the speaker faltered for a SECOND they would yell out the answer to the question they JUST ASKED. They took up half the talk with their inane questions that they didn't even care about. Just horrible it was.
Seriously, these people are taking time out of their lives to teach you and introduce you to new things. Constructive criticism is fine, but what makes someone be “that guy?”
The ones that visit for acceptance. Just ask them if they might want to continue the talk, because they seem more knowledgeable about the subject. Then they got what they want and leave or are very silent the rest of the talk :-)
ReplyDeleteBut most important, the rest of the people can enjoy what they came for in the first place.
What's funny, is I think some of them actually think they're doing it to be smart (as in intelligent). Perhaps some of these people have been turned down for jobs, or speaking and writing opportunities and they feel they have to flaunt the knowledge they have. I'm not a psychologist (IANAP), but it appears that they feel they need to prove themselves to people who don't care, because they've been rejected by the people who mattered to them.
ReplyDeleteThis covers some of them. On a less psychological level, others are just flat out jerks, flamers, haters, trolls, etc. People who've maybe had a bad experience with the software at hand, or maybe they just think they could do a better job than the speaker.
These are my speculations...
Honestly, that's the thing I hate most about this industry; the hardcore dorks with identity issues. Unfortunately, every industry, interest group and hobby has them.
ReplyDeleteYou think that's bad? Try being a 23 year old kid, fresh out of college, and being told I don't know why people are so hung up about client/server technology... IBM's mainframe products are so superior to anything Microsoft or Sun ever released...
ReplyDeleteIt's not so dissimilar to religion - my religion is the best, and here are all the reasons why yours sucks. It's totally idiotic.
Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, each tool (read:language) has it's pros and cons.
It's so geek to hate microsoft... even though their products are used more often than not by the general population. Doesn't make sense to me!
Of course, if you were trying to write code that would work cross platform... :)
@Matt indeed it is a religion
ReplyDeleteThey have churches and they evangelize. Their form of showing you the fear of god is to take you down a few rungs.
What makes someone be �that guy?�
ReplyDeleteGoogle for second-hander.
Um, hello?! Obviously they're doing it for one reason and one reason only: to try and impress the 3 women in the crowd of 75 that showed up.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if she sees me stump the speaker she'll want to join my World of Warcraft guild giggle
;)
D
@D'Arcy - funny *and* accurate FTW!
ReplyDeleteIt's with great shame I must admit that -- in my youth -- I often was that guy -- although I rarely raised above the level of slightly annoying. However, now, with the help of a 12-step program, I've learned to suppress the urge, and on the rare occasions where I fail at that, I do apologize to the speaker afterwords.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be pedantic but it's incident not indecent
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's .NET, not .Net, at least according to Microsoft (and they should know, right?)....
ReplyDeleteIn judging others, people will work overtime for no pay.
ReplyDeleteGreat share. I will be forwarding this along. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteGreat share. I will be forwarding this along. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDelete