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Comment by sph | Hacker News Reader

You don't have any idea what introversion means. Introversion doesn't mean withholding information nor being afraid to speak out loud nor being unable to synthetise information.

It does not mean to be shy, nor uncomfortable with people. Introversion does not mean exhibiting symptoms of autism either, which might be what you are talking about with "simplify at the proper level" (?).

Introversion and extroversion have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of a software engineer or its documentation. I just wish this label would just die, given how its misunderstood and misconstrued.

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You had the opportunity to explain what introversion actually is, but instead this comment is only what it is not. I don't think that's useful if you are actually trying to help the commenter to which you replied.

Indeed. I'm an introvert who is in a leadership position at a large consulting company. My natural inclination is to be quiet unless things are going off the rails. But that doesn't work for the job I have, so I have to put myself out there more and communicate things much more explicitly and clearly than I'd prefer. But I can do it. I can lead calls and projects. I can "charm" CTO's with my ability to understand and breakdown the challenges they are facing. I can be persuasive and an effective mediator. But it's exhausting for me.

I spend most of my working day talking to people, and at the end of the work day I'm done with people and need to spend a significant time alone in my head to recharge. I doubt that any of the folks I work with would describe me as an introvert because the nature of my work doesn't allow me to fall into the comfortable isolation I'd prefer. At the same time, I can't have the impact that I do if I was the stereotypical "introvert" engineer which is what makes all the effort worthwhile. The biggest challenge with this is my intolerance for people extends to friends and family after work. A day full of meetings and I can't focus on conversations my wife tries to pull me into and I have zero desire to hang out with any friends. I literally need time alone to recover.

Same. I could totally relate. Comfortable isolation sounds blissful.

After a long day I tend to zone out and my partner tells me it's like they're talking to a wall.

> It does not mean to be shy, nor uncomfortable with people.

introvert - noun - a shy, reticent person. [0]

At any rate, your comment is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about. Even if where I get my idea of it is off course from yours, you immediately become seemingly quite offended and start arguing your point in depth on trying to change what I understand as being a pretty global understanding of a word. You even kind of argue at the end that it is common usage.

[0] Oxford Languages via Google

That was a lot of words telling us all what introversion isn’t, but not a single word telling us what you think it actually is. Care to try again?

A nice example of introverted comment.

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