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by timeagain 835 days ago
In my experience the less judgement I bring to a situation, the better I will be able to listen. If someone is telling me a story where I feel like they were morally wrong or where “one easy trick” would have solved their problem, it is very hard for me to not want to blurt out advice, admonishment, or shut the conversation down.

The funny thing is that being quickly opinionated is highly valued in tech, so my maladaptive behavior (in part) got me accolades and promotions. I actually think this tendency to have a hot take on everything immediately is a large portion of why engineers rub non-engineers the wrong way

2 comments

> The funny thing is that being quickly opinionated is highly valued in tech

I don’t really agree with this in the context you seem to put it. It’s not that it’s completely wrong, it’s just that engineers who rub non-engineers the wrong way are most certainly also rubbing engineers the wrong way. That being said, tech teams are often rather “quiet” and having that crude loudmouth is often better than having nobody speak their opinions at all.

I wouldn’t say it’s valued though. At least not in my experience. What is valued is engineers who can voice their opinions in an assertive and friendly manner. This is because that unlike the crude loudmouth, these people lead to the quiet people joining in. Which can lead to actual discussion and at the very least put forward more opinions from the team, without you having to be the elementary school teacher picking the quiet student in order to hear what they have to contribute.

I guess being a crude loudmouth can lead to promotions, but it’s probably also a quick way to become one of those managers/architects which are called hot-air balloons or the emperors new clothes behind their backs.

This is the same reason engineers rub engineers the wrong way. Its true for all humans.