Keynote: Programmers Don't Like People...or Do They?
summary
Argues that tech culture is rooted in a harmful stereotype (citing an IBM 1960s study that claimed "programmers don't like people"), traces how hiring and reward systems copied that, and reports a corrective Google team study that ranks psychological safety, dependability, clarity, meaning and impact above individual heroics. Proposes practical moves—rewrite hiring criteria, measure mentoring, adopt compassion as a skill in code reviews, API naming and feature prioritization—to reduce burnout, increase inclusion, and make teams actually work.
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chapters (5)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:14Suffering in software
- 3:48Programmers dont like people
- 6:39Work with people
- 10:22Compassion
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