academictemp

I consider myself pretty competitive. I'm in a top 5 CS PhD program, have published several first author conference papers in top-tier conferences in my field, and I consider computer science to be a big part of my identity.

That being said, I feel that I have a pretty good grasp on "academic competitiveness" and can distinguish that from what I'm describing above (which I'm calling "computer science personality disorder"). It truly is a behavior that appears unique to our field and I feel that it drives a lot of smart, collaborative, and supportive people to leave.

Mostly just repeated observations of my peers. It's kind of hard to articulate an exact experience other than general rudeness and sneering but I'll give it a shot.

Recently, a colleague of mine was presenting their work. Another colleague with CSPD (comp. sci. personality disorder) interrupted the presentation to say "this all seems very obvious." The remark was self-aggrandizing and completely dismissive of my colleague's hard work.

Witnessing this made me realize just how toxic our community can be to one another.