[danishabdullah]

It is to be expected, to some extent, for people in the tech industry to be pompous. After all many of us have been great universities and were taught (or perhaps suggested) that we are the smartest of all.

I see this general pomposity among my fellow techies all the time. Some think that business people are stupid, some think humanities are unnecessary, some argue that users are all noobs etc...

Perhaps it's pride in work/abilities gone too far. Perhaps we overvalue ourselves...

[Amadou]

Perhaps it's pride in work/abilities gone too far. Perhaps we overvalue ourselves...

My experience has been that it is simply a lack of perspective due to ignorance. It is very tempting to be dismissive of what other people do when you only understand what they do at a very simple level.

[Tyrannosaurs]

We probably shouldn't confuse a handful of start ups and successful corporations with "the tech industry" as if it's a single entity.

To me there are at least two bits of the industry - the bit where that either because of the work or because of the culture those working in it might convince themselves that they're changing the world, and the bit where people largely write CRUD database apps that save a few people, usually working for corporations, a bit of time.

Far more people work in the second camp and in my experience most of them really aren't that pompous at all.

[vijayr]

Perhaps we overvalue ourselves

That is one side of the problem. The other side is, many many people (especially engineers) undervalue themselves, think that they aren't worth much etc. It is super hard to precisely know what our value is, and act/live in such a way that it is neither arrogant/proud/pompous nor doormat/depressed.

May be we should stop measuring value/worth through sheer abilities, achievements and things owned?