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Comment by palish | Hacker News Reader

Take it from someone who knows: how good you are at your job matters very, very little in comparison with how much people like you as a person.

It's about mindset. Make sure that your expectations are aligned with your long-term goals. If you spend 100% of your time on training yourself in cs, then expect to be very shocked by the social dynamics of your first job. Conversely, if you spend 60% of your time focusing on becoming more social, then expect to have more friends, connections, and to connect with an overall larger number of interesting people during your lifetime.

So make sure you think about the answer to "What are my long-term goals?" and allocate your time proportionally. I didn't. I'd trade you my 10 years of advanced C++/graphics knowledge/gamedev industry experience for the college opportunity you have right now. And I wouldn't spend it by burying myself in studies.

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> Take it from someone who knows: how good you are at your job matters very, very little in comparison with how much people like you as a person.

I think this is untrue simply because smart people who are good at their job are very likeable in general. Who doesn't like the smart productive guy? Conversely, who can stand the dumb guy on the team who never does any work? Of course there are exceptions, but my experience is that the social structure among nerds is largely a meritocracy. Just don't be mean to people.

If this hasn't been your experience, I think you had some misfortune by ending up in companies where politics dominate. There are both. Look at upper management - are they technically smart, or charismatic? Whichever one they are is likely what will have propagated throughout the company. Also watch out for mediocrity, that propagates too.

Of course, I'm referring to technical jobs, not business in general. If it were MBA, I'd agree with you.

> If this hasn't been your experience, I think you had some misfortune by ending up in companies where politics dominate.

I totally agree with being social at college, and being really friendly and helpful to everyone, but doing good in your studies is pretty much a guaranteed way to become good at grinding your way through things that are perhaps very boring. They are both equally important and unless you are working, you should be able to find time for both activities. Studying with classmates is also a good way to do both.

EDIT: I don't know what I replied to this comment and not your main comment about socializing at school, but w/e

> I think this is untrue simply because smart people who are good at their job are very likeable in general. Who doesn't like the smart productive guy? Conversely, who can stand the dumb guy on the team who never does any work?

I think in practice if you're in the middle 80% of the productivity spectrum, how well you interact with other people matters more than your technical ability.

You're not always just interfacing with other nerds. And in a startup context, as a founder you'll spend as much time talking to MBA types as you will on technical details.

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