Constantly Working Behind Enemy Lines
Today again, I was reminded that I don't work in a friendly environment. I can't open up my journal, I can't tweet... there are people literally looking at me waiting for me to make a mistake so they can yell at me - or worse. I'm not so dumb as to think that the issues with the weblog are over and forgotten with. I know there are at least a few people that would love to have me give them a reason to have me fired.
I have not made any friends in the current crop of co-workers here.
Those that I did get along with are all gone. And with each one, a little part of me knew that this place was getting a little more hostile towards me every day.
There are folks that come by and ask me to help them because for the last year they haven't taken the time to learn a new system and how to find things in it. They think they only need to know what they know, and don't believe that they need to stretch themselves. I was busy, but I had to make time to help this person find their problem in the code. Why? Lazy.
But I'll be seen as the Bad Guy... I have in the past, and will again. I'll be seen as short-tempered and unhelpful, but he will not be seen as lazy or directionless.
I read an email by another 'developer' saying that there was a limitation in Python that would not allow it to reload modules when embedded. I knew this to be wrong because a friend was doing it here in a C++ program before he left. He's still doing it where he is. I privately emailed this 'developer' to say it's not a limitation of embedded Python, it's a limitation of the embedder. He said I didn't understand, and that it was dangerous and not standard Python. I knew better.
I double-checked with my friend that had escaped a while back, and he verified that indeed it works just fine, and that he did it, and is still doing it. No questions. Sure, there are a few issues and limitations, but those are true in any reloading scheme. I tried to explain this to the 'developer' but finished off the email saying that I was very unsure if I should have sent this email exchange.
So often these things degenerate into an ugly exchange where one person is convinced that they are right - and really aren't. Their limited knowledge of the subject matter is not relevant to their belief that they are without question the authority on the issue. The person that attempts to correct them - right or wrong, is in for a dogmatic argument, not a learned discourse.
Yet this guy is considered the "expert"? You gotta be kidding me. He's not an idiot, but if he's making arguments like this, it's not a matter of knowledge, it's a matter of character. You either are open to the idea that you might be wrong, or you're not. I try to stay firmly in the former category. He is clearly in the latter.
It's exchanges like this, and others that I've had today, that make me feel once again, like I'm really better off just nodding my head and letting people believe what they want. THey clearly aren't interested in the truth, why should I bother them with it?