496
Angry
5y

The first time I realized I wasn't as good as I thought I was when I met the smartest dev I've ever known (to this day).

I was hired to manage his team but was just immediately floored by the sheer knowledge and skills this guy displayed.

I started to wonder why they hired outside of the team instead of promoting him when I found that he just didn't mesh well with others.

He was very blunt about everything he says. Especially when it comes to code reviews. Man, he did /not/ mince words. And, of course, everyone took this as him just being an asshole.

But being an expert asshole myself, I could tell he wasn't really trying to be one and he was just quirky. He was really good and I really liked hanging out with him. I learned A LOT of things.

Can you imagine coming into a lead position, with years of experience in the role backing your confidence and then be told that your code is bad and then, systematically, very precisely, and very clearly be told why? That shit is humbling.

But it was the good kind of humbling, you know? I really liked that I had someone who could actually teach me new things.

So we hung out a lot and later on I got to meet his daughter and wife who told me that he had slight autism which is why he talked the way he did. He simply doesn't know how to talk any other way.

I explained it to the rest of the team (after getting permission) and once they understood that they started to take his criticism more seriously. He also started to learn to be less harsh with his words.

We developed some really nice friendships and our team was becoming a little family.

Year and a half later I had to leave the company for personal reasons. But before I did I convinced our boss to get him to replace me. The team was behind him now and he easily handled it like a pro.

That was 5 years ago. I moved out of the city, moved back, and got a job at another company.

Four months ago, he called me up and said he had three reasons for us to meet up.

1. He was making me god father of his new baby boy
2. That they created a new position for him at the company; VP of Engineering
and
3. He wanted to hang out

So we did and turns out he had a 4th reason; He had a nice job offer for me.

I'm telling this story now because I wanted to remind everyone of the lesson that every mainstream anime tells us:

Never underestimate the power of friendship.

Comments
  • 81
    Woahhh that was one wholesome rant. You did amazing thing and should be proud of it. Also kudos to you knowing to set aside your ego and admit he was awesome developer and hang out with him 🙂
  • 10
    Dude, good story!
  • 6
    Great story ;)
  • 16
    @myss - yeah, I learned (the hard way) very early on in my career that a big ego had no place in a work environment. It results into making bad decisions and, in turn, that results into sometimes breaking production applications. Haha.
  • 5
    Becoz thats what heroes do
  • 8
    I think I have the hero complex but I try hard not to act on it. It's encouraging to read this one. You're a good guy. Not all try to understand people more than what they see
  • 6
    your story just brightens my Wednesday!
  • 8
    Setting aside any physical and psychic "features".
    As Devs we're generally dumb in emotional aspects. That's why we're so rude and enfriendly. CI and CE are inversely propotional. But we need both for "survive in the company"

    I recommend a book called "Emotional Inteligence in the company".
  • 6
    Very nice story, thanks for sharing 😁
  • 7
    This was not an Angry post at all.
  • 2
    Thank you so much for giving us this rant! What a sublime story and so so so well put! ♥
  • 2
    That hit me right in the feels
  • 2
    Thank You sir! Faith in humanity is restored 😉 keep up the good work!
  • 5
    Best first !rant to read on a Monday morning!
  • 2
    That is what I call a rant, great story.
  • 1
    "I wanted to remind everyone of the lesson that every mainstream anime tells us:"

    anime..and my little pony.
  • 2
    This story is so inspiring! Dude I'am so happy for you and your friend!

    I wish there are more stories like this!
  • 4
    As someone with aspergers, I felt his pain. Wanting to fix problems, but their face looks like a sheet of paper, and the words look like a rubble of gibberish, and the tsunami of bad code is approaching. No time to be fluffy, just be blunt and speak the problem directly. It's anxiety riddled!
    My gf is always reviewing/ updating me on how I'm phrasing things, to help me be "more human-like". Because of her, the team has unofficially made me their lead dev and the go to guy for random fun knowledge.

    Congrats on helping your lead dev find a window to communicate with the team, and being a great trustable friend when he was in need.
  • 0
    @Angry Great, now I wanna hear THAT story (learning the hard way). Prequel saga, please!
  • 0
    This was wholesome
  • 0
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