The best programmers are often accused of being "arrogant." Are they? When you make the accusation, are you committing libel?
How to respond when accused of Arrogance
You can just tough it out. Dilbert shows us the way here:
In order to figure out how to respond, maybe we should understand just what arrogance is.
What is "arrogant," anyway?
Here's the scoop from the dictionary:
Definition of ARROGANT
1: exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner <an arrogant official>
2: showing an offensive attitude of superiority : proceeding from or characterized by arrogance <an arrogant reply>
The second meaning is clear: you're arrogant if people don't like the way you act or talk; they somehow think that you think you're better than they are.
The first meaning is more interesting: it links the way you act to the facts of the case. You're arrogant if you act like you're better than you are. Hmmm...
Does this mean that you're arrogant if and only if you exaggerate how good you are? Sure sounds like it. So your arrogance is real arrogance IF your view of your self-worth is greater than your actual worth. Sounds reasonable, actually. If Eli Manning (the QB in the Superbowl who is not married to Giselle Bundchen) says "I'm a great quarterback," is he being arrogant? I'd say "no."
Arrogance is understandable and justified...
What happens when some aggressive, ignorant fool takes over a meeting, presses his own neanderthal solution and is close to getting it turned into marching orders for the less-aggressive ignorant fools? First of all, I'd say buddy, you're in the wrong place. Bail out! May Day! May Day! Second, I can completely understand getting everyone's attention, perhaps with some edge, and putting out a superior solution.
...Except when it's not!
The other problem is that sometimes the nerd is really wrong. He's just blown it. This is easy to understand. Are all nerds Top Nerds? Of course not! So there are whole lots of nerds that are wrong (or at least sub-optimal) on lots of subjects lots of the time! Yuck!! Even worse, such a nerd is, almost by definition, an "arrogant nerd," even if the nerd is behaving pretty well.
Arrogance and Libel
Suppose you call someone a lying tax cheat. In public. Their reputation is under attack, and they respond by suing you for defamation of character, i.e. libel. IF you can prove that the person in fact has lied about important things and has in fact cheated on their taxes, it's case closed: there is no libel, no defamation of character, when all you're doing is speaking the truth.
Now suppose you call someone an arrogant programmer. In public.Their reputation is under attack, and they respond by saying they're not arrogant, they're just right and you're wrong -- get over it! IF you can prove that the person in fact writes bad programs, designs them poorly and that there is in fact a better way of doing things, it's case closed: they are arrogant! There is no libel, no defamation of character, when all you're doing is speaking the truth.
Conclusion
There is a great deal to be said about nerds and arrogance. In the end, it's pretty simple. Try to be nice most of the time. When someone's being a fool, be kind. But you still can't let fools determine technical outcomes. Have you missed something? Are you really smarter in this case? If so, get the right outcome. Will you be called "arrogant?" Probably. Let them prove it!
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