My Experience With an Arrogant Junior Programmer

Summary

A senior programmer shares their experience with an arrogant junior programmer who disagreed with their proposed solution and displayed poor performance.

Abstract

The author, a senior programmer, recounts an experience with a junior programmer who had less than two months of work experience. The junior programmer disagreed with the author's proposed solution to a problem and responded arrogantly, insisting that their solution was better. The author was shocked by the junior's behavior and attitude, as they believed that criticism should always be evaluated and appreciated, especially from juniors. Despite the junior's poor performance and slow progress, the author decided not to fire them due to the lack of available candidates in the market. The author reflects on the importance of humility and a willingness to learn in the workplace.

Bullet points

The author is a senior programmer with extensive knowledge of a technology used in a critical component of a system.
The author was assigned a junior programmer to train and delegate less significant tasks to.
The junior programmer disagreed with the author's proposed solution to a problem and responded arrogantly.
The author believes that criticism should always be evaluated and appreciated, especially from juniors.
The author was shocked by the junior's behavior and attitude.
Despite the junior's poor performance and slow progress, the author decided not to fire them due to the lack of available candidates in the market.
The author reflects on the importance of humility and a willingness to learn in the workplace.

That I won’t forget

“If you’re so confident in your solution, why don’t you implement it yourself?”

A new hire with less than two months of work experience told me this. I was shocked.

We work on a project. I am the most knowledgeable person on a technology adopted by the team. It is used to create a critical component for the entire system, and I am the point person in defining the architecture.

I was assigned a resource under my wing to be trained on this technology, to whom I could delegate the less significant tasks so that I could dedicate myself to the more complex problems.

This guy and I are struggling to solve a small problem, and we identify two approaches.

After evaluating an implementation he created, I politely asked him to change it and adopt a different strategy in accordance with the architecture I outlined. He disagrees. I listen to his reasons and start a conversation by addressing each point and giving explanations.

Personally, I believe that criticism should always be evaluated and appreciated, especially if it comes from a junior. This is both because an oversight is always possible, even for a person with particular experience, because there are always equally valid alternative solutions, and new perspectives are always helpful, and because it is a unique opportunity to teach a less experienced person.

I was amazed when I read this message in the chat, and it was expressed with annoyance. Not only does he respond arrogantly, but he insists that he knows better and that this is the right solution.

I remember the first months I was hired. I have never expressed myself in that way. I also had the illusion of knowing a lot when I knew very little in reality. But I tried to soak up everything I was taught like a sponge, and I listened.

So this blows my mind. A junior figure is paid to learn, hoping that the company will have that productive resource in the future.

Arrogance and presumption are the perfect recipe for throwing away a great opportunity. On the other hand, it is natural that those who don’t know that they don’t remember think they are very competent.

In any case, after having sternly ordered him to change his attitude and various measures, his attitude changed. But I was on the verge of calling on my superiors to fire this person.

I still sometimes consider whether to do it again, especially given his poor performance in learning what I teach him and his taking too long to complete the tasks I assign to him. However, the market does not offer many candidates, and it actually seems to be dedicated.

We can still work on it, basically. But this episode reminds me why, although I like interacting with the team and with people, I prefer to deal more with computers.

Programming Story

My Experience With an Arrogant Junior Programmer

That I won’t forget

In Plain English 🚀