Treating Developers With Respect

I don't like taking crap. So it comes as no surprise that this month I told a client to essentially take a flying hike. I should have known better given the way this person communicated with me early on in a rather rude, impatient arrogant, and "Rome Is Burning" manner. I hate shit like that where people think they can talk down to you and force themselves into your world dictating things. I work very well with people who are kind and know how to communicate and get their point across. What I don't appreciate are the "in your face" types that come across as some person using guerilla hard nosed tactics thinking that they can push you around to get things done or gain control.

I am Japanese American and with my culture we don't appreciate that kind of approach. Its in me, it comes from my family and it comes from my heritage. I've learned throughout my career as both an engineer, manager, and project lead that you don't get people to do things by sticking your nose 3 inches away from theirs and demanding things. I also learned that if you truly want to motivate people, you get them excited to do the work and reward them for their efforts, not exploit them or make them feel lower than you. That never works and I will not subscribe to it.

With this gentleman, right off the bat he wanted to call the shots. What was so ridiculous about it all was the way he tried to command attention and power over me by using gratuitous words in a demanding style. I had not even been hired by this person and was in the bidding process when words like ASAP and psychological bullshit ploys were being used to gain leverage in the process. Whats so funny about it all was that this contract was for no more than a few hundred dollars of work and five measily hours a week. The way this person worked is that he wanted full command attention, immediate response to his communication channels, and things done on his schedule and time. No fucking way.

Let's be clear that when you hire a developer, expect that you are going to be dealing with a highly intellectual person. You don't piss a developer off by belittling them or by playing bullshit mind games to gain control over them and their work. It will never work because developers are a very proud group of people. The last thing they want to do is deal with fucktards. If you want a developers respect, treat them with openess, honesty, and cut them slack because whether you realize it or not, they are problem solvers that draw upon intelligence and creativity to solve things typically never solved before. Give them space and time to get the job done and never pressure them because they are damn good at doing that themselves. If you don't understand what I said above, you never will understand unless you are knee deep in the thick of things attempting to do it yourself.

Developers are like modern day Thomas Edison's doing things not done before. A lot of their work is trying something, seeing if it works, and then trying again to make it work. Over and over and over while multiasking many different things and organizing all of this in their mind. Its definitely not one dimensional thinking and very few have the ability to do it.

Its disheartening to know that there are people out there that see developers in poorer countries than the United States as a means to exploit them because of their poorer standard of living and then use that to their own domestic country. Developers are developers no matter where you go. Pay should not be the standard of measure in how you communicate with them or even talk down to them.

Rant.Done.