Here’s another blog post on gathering some common threads from reading recent posts. Today’s topic is about the unassuming nature of talented software engineers. The first thread was a …
In a less extreme sense, I find there’s also an inverse relationship between skill and marketing effort, because:
Marketing activities take time away from honing your skills. Even if you “just” (in very fucking big air quotes) build something useful that you release as open-source, you’ll still spend time answering user questions, reviewing PRs, writing documentation, ensuring backward compatibility etc…
These are also useful skills, but they still prevent you from exercising your coding skills.
The most popular platforms for marketing yourself are also the most rapey platforms. People with high technical skill will be aware of this. The most privileged of them may not need to care.
But those that worked their asses off, because they had to start from an unprivileged position, those need to care. Because they will be disadvantaged and harassed, when people see that they’re from a minority or women.
You miss out on those with the highest work drive. You miss out on skills that people build when they need to protect their privacy. And you miss out on a culturally rich workforce and get a fragile monoculture instead.
In a less extreme sense, I find there’s also an inverse relationship between skill and marketing effort, because:
Marketing activities take time away from honing your skills. Even if you “just” (in very fucking big air quotes) build something useful that you release as open-source, you’ll still spend time answering user questions, reviewing PRs, writing documentation, ensuring backward compatibility etc…
These are also useful skills, but they still prevent you from exercising your coding skills.
The most popular platforms for marketing yourself are also the most rapey platforms. People with high technical skill will be aware of this. The most privileged of them may not need to care.
But those that worked their asses off, because they had to start from an unprivileged position, those need to care. Because they will be disadvantaged and harassed, when people see that they’re from a minority or women.
You miss out on those with the highest work drive. You miss out on skills that people build when they need to protect their privacy. And you miss out on a culturally rich workforce and get a fragile monoculture instead.