What Is Stupidity?
Arguably, one cannot get much stupider than documenting activities of a bunch of guys who are supposed to be the most brilliant people around, and in the process producing the most convincing example of stupidity. This is exactly what happened to the authors of the Aadvark’d: 12 Weeks with Geeks DVD.
According to the film’s main protagonist, Joel Spolsky, the geeks sported in this DVD have been chosen after a painstaking selection process. Joel went through a huge pile of resumes, looking for the most brilliant candidates, and, as revealed in his own confession, chose only the resumes that were so outstanding that they would almost levitate and glow in the dark. This sets the bar quite high at the very outset, setting the poor geeks for a spectacular fall.
The most shocking and disarming thing about this DVD is how it exposes the utter stupidity of its protagonists. There isn’t anything bright, sophisticated, smart or intelligent about any of the people portrayed in this film. This group of supposedly obscenely bright and intelligent people turned out to look like a group of retards. They all appear inarticulate, bland, boring, unimaginative. Basically, the people you would want to avoid spending any time with, at any cost.
The most depressing thing about this entire fiasco is how one gets the unshakable impression that this is not an exception, that pretty much all software developers are like that. If that’s the case, is it a small wonder that software products worldwide are so incredibly moronic and messed up?
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