Does it bother you when people are incompetent? | Hacker News Reader

Does it bother you when people are incompetent?

13 pointslevymetal12 comments

Little bit of a rant, but here we go.

I'm a web developer, and I was contacted by a previous client who said he's getting some SEO work done, and the SEO company needed the FTP details and Google analytics login details. Instantly this rubbed me up the wrong way; anyone who knows about Google Analytics knows that the login details are tied to Google accounts. Which, in every site I've ever managed, or seen managed, has been the developing company. So I found it really ironic that a company who specialises in SEO doesn't understand how Google Analytics logins work. So I replied with the FTP details, and kindly told them how Google analytics worked and how I needed the SEO company's email address so I could add it to the GA profile. He forwarded that email to the SEO company, and I received an email back, with the same copy-and-pasted dot point list of FTP details (which had already been sent), and Google Analytics login details. They didn't even read my email. And it bothers me that people so incompetent are actually working and making money, and their clients are none the wiser. And that they are probably going to mess with an otherwise really good site I made.

Does it bother you when people are incompetent?

What bothers me is not incompetent people, but rather incompetent people who don't want to be competent. Like in the beginning (of every skill), I believe that we are all incompetent/naive but as time goes on, you have those who try to advance and develop their skills and those who just don't care. It's the one's that don't care, that bothers me.

This, a thousand times this.

Everyone is incompetent in some way, which is fine. In fact, I'll help someone out repeatedly if they are really interested in learning something but failing for some reason.

Then there's another level where some people seem to enjoy being incompetent. It is particularly infuriating when someone who is self-admittedly incompetent in an area waves their incompetence around like it's something to be proud of. At that point I just walk away.

A little effort goes a long way.

Absolutely.

And it should bother you.

You being bothered by this is a sign that you care about your work. These people, it would seem, do not.

It sucks that these people might trash your work, just refuse to ever work with them again.

Short answer: Yes, it bothers me a lot.

Long answer: Being incompetent is not the issue as others already said. The issue is when people fail to realize their incompetency and even worse do not want to do anything about it.

"They didn't even read my email"

One of my biggest pet peeves at work. I am always amazed to see that people don't read important emails and will then call you asking for the same. Heck, they even get upset and when I ask "Did you read the email?", they will be like "uh oh. i didn't get any email.". i mean seriously, WTF. RTF(E)

So true codegeek. I understand where you are coming from.

I think this brings up a good point. I think most people just skim emails, they copy/paste stuff in, forward forwarded messages w/out any clarifications, etc and don't pay much attention at all to details. But I don't think the majority of these people are incompetent at all, they're just busy doing their jobs, and too many assume you as a programmer just know what's going on on both ends.

To help both sides, I've found that by expressing my desire to exactly meet what they want and asking that they always provide as much detail as possible things improve a lot. Also always providing good descriptive subjects and clearly formatted emails on my end, helps as well.

What bothers me is incompetent people who cause me to waste my time. This is what you are selling to your clients: portions of life you might use for something completely different. Portions you'll never get back. So, yes, dealing with incompetent people is a huge bother (on the other hand, dealing with people not in the know but who are willing to listen is completely different).

Absolutely, and if I were you I'd suggest not working with that SEO since there's likely going to be problems down the line.

Yes and I have three rules when working with people. They need to be:

1)Competent 2)Confident 3)Efficient

OT: why wouldn't a client have their own Google credentials? What happens when you sever the relation?

I always add the client to the profile, but I don't think they've ever logged in. And I'd prefer to do it the proper way (aka add the SEO company as a user) than let my client share their login details around.

Yes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com