Actually, I would say you should NOT try to develop people skills. If you are a technical guy, your work will speak for you. By all means, be friendly to anyone who talks to you, but don't go out of your way to improve your social skills, because they are not your most valuable asset.
>but don't go out of your way to improve your social skills, because they are not your most valuable asset.
There's a higher volume of people in the world who have succeeded through excellent social networking than there are who have through pure technical merit. (In terms of pure monetary success. Even though the people in the latter category have way more geek cred, and arguably contribute more to humanity.)
Like many pursuits, the benefit gained from social skills isn't a linear function. It's more of a diminishing returns sort of deal. Even a marginal improvement on terrible social skills will pay for itself at least a dozen times over.
[You were down in the grey, so I upvoted you, not because I necessarily agree with you but because your comment is still contributing to HN--even if it might be somewhat contrarian. :)]
While I agree that being an introvert is not a bad thing, I don't think it's unreasonable for a person to want to change some aspect of their approach to life if they see a benefit in doing so.
I would caution against taking a pure "your work will speak for you" approach. If I have the most amazing programming language/web framework/cold fusion reactor sitting in my house but I tell no one then my work is not going to speak for me. It's just going to sit there generating cheap energy.
In order for your work to speak for you someone needs to be listening.
Social skills are a force multiplier: the more your work is promoted, to the right people, the bigger impact it will have. Either you do the promotion yourself or you meet someone who will do the promotion for you...
And this comes from an Introverted New Zealander so I know of what I speak. :)
As a final example:
Do you know one of my forms of passive income? I would say, probably not.
As an introvert I'd leave it at that.
But as an introvert who has learned people have to know something exists before they can hear what it says...
You should totally listen to what The Bright Bunny has to say:
I agree, kind of - obviously you need to get the word out. This does not mean you have to be an expert in social interaction though. Case study: in 2006, I released a demo I had worked on (in isolation for 2 years!). Within the first week, 600,000 hits, just by me posting a link, no social skills needed :)
Viewing introversion as a "deficiency" is probably insulting to introverts. I am speaking as an introvert who has tried to build social skills (and succeeded, at least in artificially working against my nature). The case would be different for each individual, but in my case, shutting my yapper and getting work done has taken me a lot farther than socializing has. ;)
Comments
Actually, I would say you should NOT try to develop people skills. If you are a technical guy, your work will speak for you. By all means, be friendly to anyone who talks to you, but don't go out of your way to improve your social skills, because they are not your most valuable asset.
Being an introvert is not a bad thing.
I strongly recommend reading this:
http://www.carlkingdom.com/10-myths-about-introverts
(Particularly #10)
>but don't go out of your way to improve your social skills, because they are not your most valuable asset.
There's a higher volume of people in the world who have succeeded through excellent social networking than there are who have through pure technical merit. (In terms of pure monetary success. Even though the people in the latter category have way more geek cred, and arguably contribute more to humanity.)
Like many pursuits, the benefit gained from social skills isn't a linear function. It's more of a diminishing returns sort of deal. Even a marginal improvement on terrible social skills will pay for itself at least a dozen times over.
[You were down in the grey, so I upvoted you, not because I necessarily agree with you but because your comment is still contributing to HN--even if it might be somewhat contrarian. :)]
While I agree that being an introvert is not a bad thing, I don't think it's unreasonable for a person to want to change some aspect of their approach to life if they see a benefit in doing so.
I would caution against taking a pure "your work will speak for you" approach. If I have the most amazing programming language/web framework/cold fusion reactor sitting in my house but I tell no one then my work is not going to speak for me. It's just going to sit there generating cheap energy.
In order for your work to speak for you someone needs to be listening.
Social skills are a force multiplier: the more your work is promoted, to the right people, the bigger impact it will have. Either you do the promotion yourself or you meet someone who will do the promotion for you...
And this comes from an Introverted New Zealander so I know of what I speak. :)
As a final example:
Do you know one of my forms of passive income? I would say, probably not.
As an introvert I'd leave it at that.
But as an introvert who has learned people have to know something exists before they can hear what it says...
You should totally listen to what The Bright Bunny has to say:
The Bright Bunny.
A little craft. A little electronics.
A whole lot of awwwwww! <3
(http://thebrightbunny.com/)
I agree, kind of - obviously you need to get the word out. This does not mean you have to be an expert in social interaction though. Case study: in 2006, I released a demo I had worked on (in isolation for 2 years!). Within the first week, 600,000 hits, just by me posting a link, no social skills needed :)
simply because you have a strong skill doesnt mean you should ignore your deficiencies, especially ones as fundamental as social interaction.
Viewing introversion as a "deficiency" is probably insulting to introverts. I am speaking as an introvert who has tried to build social skills (and succeeded, at least in artificially working against my nature). The case would be different for each individual, but in my case, shutting my yapper and getting work done has taken me a lot farther than socializing has. ;)