Feigned Surprise

he best developers I’ve worked with were willing to admit when they didn’t know something. Of course they could learn quickly. If you meet an arrogant developer who pretends to know everything, be careful. To them, their ego is more important than your software. An insecure person who mixes up their self-worth with their programming ability can be very unpleasant to work with. Sadly, some workplaces and development teams reward bombastic claims made with absolute certainty, even on complex topics.

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“Feigned surprise” (when someone gasps and says something like: “you don’t even know about monads?”) is a method of belittling someone and lording your superiority over them. Every organization says about itself, “we don’t have any rude, unpleasant people here. We’re different!” And during the interview process those people are hidden away. Usually you can only find out the truth by actually working there. But by banning feigned surprise, Hacker School strikes a real blow against unplesant, unproductive behavior, and drives away toxic people. That is a strong signal that Hacker School is the sort of place where someone can program and collaborate in a peaceful atmosphere, and therefore accomplish a great deal.

Dennis, Hacker School Banning Feigned Surprise is Absolutely Brilliant (2014)

• conduct
• professionalism