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Comment by gnfargbl | Hacker News Reader

In a couple of decades of work, I have never actually met anyone like Julius. Typically, I have found that those who excel at listening and presenting are also capable of understanding the technology at an appropriate level for their role -- it's not like this stuff is truly complicated, after all.

I have met quite a few people who are more focussed on the business than the technology, but those people tend to end up in jobs where the main problems aren't actually technical. Which, let's be honest, is the case in very many tech jobs.

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oh man, I have met several Juliuses. one of them was my boss till he made an error as similar to the one the original Julius made, but unfortunately too late I had to leave the company earlier he made my life hell. now he is at another company, as long as he is at this company I won't apply there, if they hire him they have no place for me

No end of Juliuses. And they're not even the worst type you can meet at a software company.

There are so many. I think if you haven't met a Julius, chances are you are Julius..

I wonder, how does a Julius perceive another Julius, as another competent worker? What about a non-Julius then?

I've seen it rationalized by saying you should be moving jobs every year or so, because if you're not doing that, then you're not growing. I've always thought of this as a sort of Julius coping mechanism. On some level, I think a Julius views a non-Julius as a stagnant old gray beard who rejects the "growth mindset".

To be clear: I've never seen people who follow this strategy contribute anything of value, and it's the biggest red flag on a resume. You learn and grow more by seeing things through.

I have met armies of julius at all levels. Id say 80% of people are julius and if u dont think so then i have some news for you.

It is always like this. Your ability to socialize will bring you further than any other skillset. The Kennedys for example manufactured their status by socializing. Industry is no different.

> The Kennedys for example manufactured their status by socializing.

And generational wealth and serious political power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Fitzgerald

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy_Sr.

Read some of the father’s quotes. He literally sent his kids out to marry into richer and more powerful families.

Humans are social animals and good social skills is a major benefit almost everywhere, including at work. This does not make most people juliuses.

Hi julius! I kid and dont speak as if i am not a julius. Most people are in it for money for a house car family etc. they dont care about the job in so much as means to an end. That is julius but he took it further

that is not what makes a julius though. there are lots of good, competent workers who don't really give a damn about the job, and are just in it for the money, but they know their stuff and are genuinely working and delivering value for the money they are given while they are on the clock. what a julius dials up to eleven is the oft-heard dictum "fake it till you make it", only they are so good at faking it that it becomes their entire thing, not just a way to stay under the radar while they learn the job.

80% of people you meet are communicating to your customers that the server doesn't have an IP address for security reasons?

80% of the people are saying that this is highly complex software. We should not expect to serve more than 4 requests per second without a full kubernetes cluster backed by 27 pods, a cloud spanner database, and 200k lines of code.

I present, our contact form.

Julius is a metaphor for a specific type of person who is ignorant and useless but has mastered the way to appear otherwise.

If you think this was about IP addresses, well ...

> Id say 80% of people are julius and if u dont think so then i have some news for you.

> Industry is no different.

Based on these comments, maybe some self-reflection is in order, as it seems from the 80% comment that what you mean is that 80% of people are able to adequately communicate.

Have i been the julius this while time? What a twist.

The question is how does one become julius

Incompetence + luck + social skills.

And yet this thread is completely full of Frank Grimes.

That number feels off by a lot to me. I think i can say i'm quite good at socializing, quite above average when comparing to people I meet and work with. I'd rate my engineering skills about average level and i have a firm dislike of fraud and of people acting to be better/smarter/faster than they really are. In my career I've come across managers of the julius type, as well of the narcissistic type, even a sociopath. I would estimate 10 to 20 percent of people are of the Julius type.

It was a subtle ref to the 80/20 rule in that most people likely oscillate between the julius and the useful. Some of that 80% are full time julius for sure.

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