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I know they can but reading a few career boards it seems computer science majors and then turned software engineers are socially awkward nerds that have never talked to anyone let alone look above a humans shoes and have a life outside of computers. Is this just a stereotype or is it fact?
I get that in CS wings at universities the majority will be nerdy. And that is fine as a I am a nerd but I did have a lot of other interests including basketball, baseball and watching movies. The interesting thing is as a society we push kids to major in STEM careers, yet if you follow these career boards would a more social kid be interested in these fields? I try to find out if this is a norm today or is strictly a US issue? For example, the SE I work with are all Indian and they all love cricket. I think its healthy to have interests outside your profession.
I think being personable would be a good trait to have, because then you could present the technical side of your work in an easily understandable way.
I think being personable would be a good trait to have, because then you could present the technical side of your work in an easily understandable way.
I agree. I have a friend whose boss (the head of the company) loves him to do the sales demonstrations because he is so good at doing this. My BIL is also a software engineer and while he’s quite friendly, when he tries to explain things it is definitely like and then my sister (who also has a CS background) has to translate. She is in more of a multidisciplinary field that uses some CS but also uses skills from other fields. I think you end up moving more into that realm (as did my friend who now does the sales demos on top of his other work) if you have more social skills.
This is just a stereotype. I was a software developer for 35 years, and while I did see some programmers fit the stereotype, most were ordinary people who you wouldn't think were software developers if you met them on the street. They were the typical ordinary people with spouses, kids, and a house.
Confirmation bias. I know lots of people in engineering fields who are personable. But you wouldn't know they work in CS or analytics unless they told you. Which they wouldn't. Because they are socially astute.
Can they be "socially" normal though-- that is what I was asking. Its not a bad thing to be different by the way. But the perception was on some boards is SEs can barely look someone in the eye when talking or can't talk about anything not code related.
I'm all for being different but being able to carry on a conversation and not look at your shoes is very important. Wouldn't you agree? That is the perception of CS students turned SE by a career minded site.
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and then my sister (who also has a CS background) has to translate. She is in more of a multidisciplinary field that uses some CS but also uses skills from other fields. I think you end up moving more into that realm (as did my friend who now does the sales demos on top of his other work) if you have more social skills.
