Category: General Bitching

Nerd Elitists #2: Dark Theme

In a similar fashion to the Anti-Microsoft mentality, there is a group of Dark Theme extremists too (although I think many people are the same as those with the Anti-Microsoft agenda). Every so often, someone will post some kind of meme criticising those that use Light Themes, and they have also created some alternative Dark Theme emojis, some of which they have intentionally made so they appear invisible to Light theme users (white text on a transparent background).

https://preview.redd.it/ie0vsl7ar3311.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=0fbe8a072ea85c185bc01422faf2acd228f0b9c6
How it feels to be a Light Theme user

Any news of companies now supporting Dark Theme is celebrated like some kind of big event. It’s almost like they are a minority group that have successfully fought for their rights.

How did these people even survive before Dark Themes even existed? I think the advice when this became available was to use Dark Themes at night, and Light during the day. I find that my eyes feel strained if I have been looking at something light then dark, or vice-versa. I think it only works if everything is Light, or everything is Dark.

Light Theme Dark Theme Swaping Betweern Dark and Light ...
Dark Theme users are apparently smarter than Light Theme users. True enlightenment is actually swapping between them.

When doing some quick research, I have often read statements like this:

“In terms of readability, the verdict is clear: black text on a white background is the best”.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/are-dark-themes-better-for-eyes-battery/

Yet, these Dark Theme fanboys will keep moaning against the research. I do wonder if it comes down to the individual though. There are some sites like Megan Laura John’s blog (e.g. https://meganlaurajohns.blogspot.com/2016/12/entrepreneurship-success-and-impostor.html) where I think “ooh this white on brown looks nice”, then after 3 paragraphs, my eyes start to struggle to focus, and it gets to the point where I can no longer look at it comfortably. I ended up reading that blog post in an RSS reader just so I could read it with black text on a white background. People must be able to comfortably read it though, or so I assume.

If it does come down to the individual’s eyes, then mocking people for it isn’t acceptable. It’s like mocking someone for being short-sighted. There’s no place for it in the workplace. I don’t understand why people can’t just quietly use a Dark Theme. Instead, they have to go out of their way to attack those that don’t share similar views to them. Like posting a tweet saying that people aren’t real developers.

Nerd Elitists #1: Anti-Microsoft

Recently a group of people have started responding to questions about why things aren’t working with the answer “because you are using Microsoft” (or similar). A conversation may play out like this:

timeinints: I’m getting a crash when installing Software X

Elitist: Are you using Windows?

timeinints: (excited because they know how to solve it) Yes I am

Elitist: Well, there is your problem!

It reminds me of my university days when people said similar things. Also, people were just obsessed with Linux, but even though the Graphical User Interface was perfectly fine, they would always use the command line. Those Linux extremists would then respond with statements along the lines of “it would work if you did it on the command line”.

Recently, we have been having troubles with conference calls on Slack, but when we try using Microsoft Teams, the audio is perfect. After announcing that we will switch future meetings to Teams, we had several Slack fanboys react to our announcement with an “anti-Teams” emoji on our Slack channel. These people don’t usually contribute to our channel, they were just lurking, but they jump at the chance to show their anti-Microsoft agenda.

I don’t think that elitism creates a good working environment, especially when people are struggling with some problem, then they get an arsey, dismissive response instead.

The Brogrammer # 2

Not much to update on the Brogrammer situation but I did laugh when I saw him in a meeting, playing with a Rubix cube.

A few days later I walked past his desk and he was watching some Let’s Play of a strategy game like Command & Conquer. Usually, if people are chilling, they will put it in a small window even though it’s not even that inconspicuous. The Brogrammer had it full-screen; maximum chill. To be fair, I do hear him ask a lot of questions about code, so he is putting in effort. I just love his brogramming style though.

He was saying how he loves challenging himself to do things he is intimidated by, so he volunteered to present the team’s work to the department. He said he came up with the idea of using Text To Speech instead of actually speaking. His team members thought he was joking but he seemed very pleased with his idea. One guy asked him to speak to the Product Owner about it, because ultimately they would be responsible for the presentation. His reply was;

“mate, you haven’t heard it; it is proper sick!”

The Brogrammer

The Brogrammer

This week, we have a group of Junior developers starting out their careers. Despite our casual dress code, I find that people usually turn up smartly dressed for the first week. I think only two of these new starters turned up in what could be described as smart-casual, and the others were very casual.

One guy has caught my attention. He turns up late for his first day dressed in a very urban style and wearing a baseball cap indoors. He then joins his team in a meeting, slouched as low as he can. He even brought his Vape to the meeting to charge. I’m gonna deem him The Brogrammer.

For his second day, he opts for a similar dress code, but this time casually rests his stereo headphones on top of his cap, whilst drinking his oversized bottle of Lucozade.

I love how he has made no effort to make a positive impression with his appearance or demeanour. My approach would be to try to be professional until I fully gauge the culture then begin to blend in.

Hopefully, he can be the source of some good stories.