Smart individuals

[Dr Walt Fair PE]

Too many managers don't understand what talents are needed in their own organization, so they choose:

• People who are as vain and superficial as they are
• People with paper credentials, because it's safe and no one can criticize
• People who represent a compromise and consensus, which by definition is usually mediocre

Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

CQ de W5ALT

Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software

[wizardzz]

I'm in the same boat here. Well actually, only the guy that hired him thinks his smart, a group interview would have found different results. Guess what? If he was an expensive hire, he will be an expensive fire, hopefully they just get him to quit.

"I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. " — Hunter S. Thompson

[Frank W Wu]

There are many books teaching you to behavior like that. Is it part of American culture?

[computer_nerd]

Working as a contractor, the interviewers would often wheel out their guru who would show off their intricate knowledge of the subject and ask specific questions from programming books they have read. To my mind they would be better concentrating on the competencies of a developer that would actually be valuable to them instead of reducing it to a competitive showdown. At work, I've seen many examples of code written by people who have added all kinds of unnecessary bells and whistles to further their knowledge or just because they like to play. Some devs try to be clever but don't comment or document adequately or at all to enable others to understand easily what is going on so they can modify the code. Being a smart-ass at interview is less useful than being able to approach the job with a certain amount of discipline, but that aspect of the job is often not covered.

[boarderstu]

Love it!

[pontellen]

Excellent article on Dunning Kruger effect. Makes a lot of sense.

[bmcD99]

Just because someone is smart, doesn't make them good at their job. I had an algebra teacher in high school who was very smart. Nice guy, out of class... but a lousy teacher. Could not relate his information well.

[etkid84]

humility. it is my belief that "smart" is relative. and, it is better to be humble; maintain and open mind at all times; use your brain like a sponge; and personally i like to think of my self as a student, rather than as a scientist and software engineer.

David

[SeattleC]

No, it's not part of american culture, any more than it's part of English or indian culture. Some people who are smart become humble, while others get used to being the smartest guy in the room, and start to like it. Watch out for these latter guys, they don't believe they can possibly do anything wrong. Since it turns out that everyone can make mistakes and everyone can learn to do better, these people waste their brains and annoy the hell out of their colleagues.

[xavier morera]

Less talk and more action is what I try to do. And I prefer a hard working individual, that is a good teammate, does not disrupt the work environment and is willing to learn over a genius ANY day.

[xavier morera]

Did you just read my mind? hahaha I was thinking the same thing when I posted above.

[xavier morera]

It is not the same to have 4 years of experience than to have 1 year of experience repeated 25 times! hahahaha

[patbob]

"If this guy really sucks that bad, they'll notice eventually" Not if he's really good at putting the blame off on others. Sometimes, people like this are. draghu: Whatever you do, don't let their manager give them sole responsibility over some critical part of the code base, and then have them fix all thge bug in it too because "only they know how that code works". Its the only surefire way I know of for management to discover their incompetence, but its not fun to be part of the cleanup crew they leave behind.

patbob

[xavier morera]

Agree 100%. Worst trait IMHO: prepotent pricks

[TRK3]

Any person who believes he can't make mistakes is either: 1. an idiot (no matter what his IQ is). 2. or has absolutely no experience whatsoever. If it weren't for society protecting them, people like that would die an early death. (Either by accident or because somebody got fed up with them and did the world a favor.)

[TRK3]

If they don't know how to apply the theory then they actually don't understand it all. And they probably can't actually explain it other than to parrot back the words they memorized reading the latest article. Nothing to learn from them except that what you do is more important than what you say.

[TRK3]

Unless of course he's such an ass that no one else would hire him.

[Orlin Georgiev]

This guy really reminds of Steve Jobs' first job: http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=395[^] Basically he lied to his bosses about how good he was, tricked Steve Wozniak to do the real work for him and got all the money and credit in the end. I'll now get back to making this damn iPhone app I'm working on behave properly... Oh, the irony!

[FrankLaPiana]

You are SO optimistic. Non-technical managers or management have no idea who's good or not, how much they produce or not.

[draghu]

Frank W. Wu wrote:

There are many books teaching you to behavior like that. Is it part of American culture?

What the question directed at me?