Rands in Repose: Managing Nerds

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2011/01/17/managing_nerds.html

by filament • 16 years ago

153 40 16 years ago

randsinrepose.com

alxp• 16 years ago

I normally find articles with titles like that painfully condescending, but this was quite well-done and worth a read.

dpritchett• 16 years ago

Check out the sidebar in the OP. Rands has written two books and I personally enjoyed his latest tremendously.

He also worked with Apple and Borland. Not your average tech blogger.

mikebike• 16 years ago

He worked at Netscape as well. His LinkedIn profile is: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-lopp/0/1/642

runevault2• 16 years ago

The thing to remember is, he came up through the ranks to became a manager, and seems to be one that decided to put the energy he used to into learning new tech/coding techniques/etc into becoming a good manager.

If you've not read anything from his blog before, it's worth at least skimming back through the archives to see what tickles your fancy. He's got some VERY good articles.

steveklabnik• 16 years ago

It's his current knot he's untying...

dinedal• 16 years ago

As I sit in my cube, mandated business attire donned, bright fluorescent lights flickering above me, and listening to the constant drone that is the heating system, I read this article and utter a small prayer. That somehow, somewhere, someone who actually manages developers reads this blog, and hires me.

paulbaumgart• 16 years ago

I'm guessing you're not in the SF Bay Area? Come join us for gold rush #37! (Right order of magnitude, anyway.)

I mean, at least you're very unlikely to encounter a place with a dress code. There's still plenty of fluorescent lights and droning HVAC systems, though.

kingnothing2• 16 years ago

If anyone is in Atlanta or willing to relocate, we're always hiring Ruby engineers or smart hackers who will learn Ruby and Rails. No dress code and we're getting rid of most of the fluorescent lights. We have fun problems and work with a respectable amount of traffic and data. Shoot me an email; the info is in my profile.

epochwolf• 16 years ago

I looked at your profile and I didn't find any information. You will need to put your email address in the about field for it to show up.

cagenut• 16 years ago

Its interesting how Rands and Joel agree on the basic quiet/dark/cave/hoodie/headphones "zone" construct, and yet nearly every startup I've visited or seen office pictures of on their website insists on a faux-egalitarian setup where everyone sits in one giant noisy room.

InclinedPlane2• 16 years ago

It's the classic demo vs. reality problem (or hollywood vs. reality problem). What looks cool for short periods of time often doesn't match what is actually useful for 2,000 hours per year.

An IDE that displays code on the sides of rotating icosahedrons looks really cool for about 3 seconds, but is hugely impractical in reality. Similarly, giant noisy rooms seem more interesting in pictures and in planning but in practice are less useful than individual walled offices.

One of the great things about individual offices in terms of facilitating collaboration is that it actually makes it far easier to have impromptu meetings between a small number of people. In cubicles people tend to avoid such things since the noise is disruptive to others and there's not much room for people, with offices you can close the door and have 3 or 4 people in a single office without much problem or much impact on others. There are many other examples.

spitfire• 16 years ago

Is there an eclipse plugin for that? I want it! I'm pumping up some prodigy and cracking some government databases later tonight it'll be perfect for that.

waqf2• 16 years ago

If cubes for software engineers are such a bad idea why does Google (so I've heard) swear by them?

pavel_lishin3• 16 years ago

The room works fine as long as your headphones block noise, and in my case, as long as there aren't people constantly in your field of vision.

(Unfortunately, in my case, there are about fifty photographers surrounding our office, so every day I see a bunch of flashes. :( )

jrockway• 16 years ago

Am I the only one that doesn't want to listen to music or other people talking all day?

How about some silence without head (or ear-canal) compressors on?

theDoug• 16 years ago

I'm often poor with my communication (in terms of: clarity, consideration, and courtesy), but when a new piece from Rands comes out I consistently find myself forwarding it or printing it for a loved one and saying "This is what I try to mean when I say ___________"

His Nerd Handbook (http://randsinrepose.com/archives/2007/11/11/the_nerd_handbo...) quite likely saved my relationship with a highly non-technical increasingly significant other. I owe the man a bunch.

tomhallett• 16 years ago

Wow, he hit the nail on the head with the "hoodie" concept. I almost feel like it gives me a power boost.

jallmann• 16 years ago

No kidding. I like coding with a hoodie over my head, literally. Never thought about why, but now I know.

pavel_lishin3• 16 years ago

My big headphones are my hoodie. I could be completely alone, with no ambient noise, and I still put them on. Sometimes they're not even plugged in. My coworker does the same thing.

jbl• 16 years ago

No kidding. I just got my first hoodie, but I have a habit of putting a hat on when I need to get down to business.

hugh32• 16 years ago

I don't know if you've seen Dr Strangelove, but your comment reminds me of Major Kong, taking off his flying helmet and putting on his cowboy hat when it's time to go fight World War 3.

zemanel• 16 years ago

this article is the "Boyfriend Operational Manual" my girlfriend has been looking for for months!

EDIT: i'm wearing my hoodie, yo!

Rands in Repose: Managing Nerds

Related Stories