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Comment by RajT88 | Hacker News Reader

In tech, people ascribe you an identity as much as you claim one yourself.

When I am not around, I have been described to people as "A DevOps guy" or "A Network Guy". People then treat me accordingly. But, being human (or an approximation thereof), I am not just one thing.

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I often skip the fact that i work in tech in certain circles in the beginning. Instead i'm just a business consultant, or working with project management.

Probably a bit cowardlike but people really love to put other people in boxes and for a lot of people working in tech means "oh so you're one of those super nerdy people that is naively optimistic about technology, is socially stunted, loves infantile pop culture and has zero sense of aesthetics" as an example.

And not that there is anything wrong with being that type of person (i also have some of those traits) there is very limited elasticity in peoples image of you after you've told what you work with, at least in Scandinavia where "you are your career".

I have a friend who works on movie productions and everyone always seem to find it amazing and extrapolate all kinds of positive stuff about him, while the opposite can happen with tech and unless i also make some weird underhanded disclaimers like "I'm actually also really into x genre of music and have played since i was a kid" or "well i actually love reading obscure literature", "i actually really like travelling, that's why this career was so great for me" people will just assume i do nothing besides program 24/7 - hyperbole yes but still.

Can anyone relate?

> "oh so you're one of those super nerdy people that is naively optimistic about technology, is socially stunted, loves infantile pop culture and has zero sense of aesthetics"

Hello!

> "oh so you're one of those super nerdy people that is naively optimistic about technology, is socially stunted, loves infantile pop culture and has zero sense of aesthetics" as an example.

for once I'm glad to be the opposite to the usual trope.. but I feel you it is tiring to be interrogated over the location of my non-existent funko-pop cache just because I write code. Even saying "I swear I don't write Js" doesn't protect you these days.

Come on, the dentist is also the dentist... taking those titles to personally imo is a too big identitiy to start with. We know you are all individuals ;)

Yes, we're all individuals!

Obligatory Monty Python scene: https://youtu.be/KHbzSif78qQ

Better analogy might be the soccer midfielder. All playing a similar game but experts in different positions.

I've always tried to go with (or steer toward) something like "a problem solver".

I just like to solve problems. Sometimes it's builds and deploys, sometimes it's the network, and sometimes it's the car in the driveway. Give me a few, I'll figure something out.

"Problem solver" is so vague as to be meaningless. I'm pretty sure literally all human action could be characterized as problem solving.

Actually, "problem solver" is a specific occupation known to anyone who ever watched any criminal TV show.

You know? When I say "problem solver", it might be more like that than I realized.

Nothing criminal, of course, but in the sense that I'll get the job done whatever it takes.

Maybe I'm keeping the wrong people around, but no, not everybody is solving problems.

Many seem to be unable or unwilling to figure out anything that is outside of their happy path through the day.

If I take a nap, I’m solving the problem of being tired. If I go grocery shopping, I’m solving the problem of not having food in my house. If I drink water, I’m solving the problem of being thirsty. If I play a video game, I’m solving the problem of being bored. All human activity is problem solving.

> In tech, people ascribe you an identity as much as you claim one yourself.

Indeed that is true of most kinds of identity. People will ascribe you racial and gender identities which may or may not match the ones you wish to claim for example.

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