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Comment by jstewartmobile | Hacker News Reader

Most programmers are assholes because they are unhappy.

Most programmers are unhappy because most software is terrible.

Most software is terrible because most programmers are assholes.

Most software is terrible because the existing corporate power structures, which concentrate the wealth and power necessary to sustain lasting projects, do not have any incentives to make good software. Hackers are assholes because it's our only defense against suits.

Fair enough. Same power structures are in play in other professions. Still not as many assholes. Are programmers just more woke than members of other vocations, or is it something else?

Lately I think that this is a social issue. It seems that most normal (non-technical) people are not going to expend so much mental effort in their job that they can't interact with people to a socially acceptable level. For whatever reason, programmers feel comfortable pushing themselves past the point of normal mental effort instead of simply admitting that things are hard and they won't be able to get them done in overly short time-frames.

I'd argue that most programmers are assholes for reasons far beyond software being terrible, and are unhappy for those other reasons, which is a much bigger conversation. The only reason I bring it up is that developers using software as an excuse to be assholes will only make the problem worse and is a cop-out for dealing with the actual issues.

Just going off the article. If improper capitalization of "Python" makes him have to take a deep breath and count to five, he's probably an asshole, and if that asshole just happens to be "one of the most senior programmers at MongoDB", then the universe makes sense today.

edit: What are the actual issues? I want to know. Change my mind.

If the edit was because of downvotes, no downvotes here, but all I'm saying is I think software has nothing to do with programmers being assholes. If you can be a mean person because of a tool you use, no matter how badly or sadistically the tool is designed, there's a very different problem.

People also just objectively aren't vengeful when making design decisions for software - that's just not how people work. Bad software is mostly written out of laziness and lack of knowledge I find.

Just wanted to hear the complete thought.

I'd say that the assholery on the design side comes more from ego and lack of consideration than intentional sadism.

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