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Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko —  — Thoughts

Are you IT extravert or IT introvert?

Image of average computer geek by now is dead. But what comes in his place?

I had recently got in comment discussion with Gyutae Park under his post about deadlines. He was approaching deadlines and social expectations as strong motivator. I was approaching same as I couldn’t care less.

That got me thinking about how we bring our general human quirks into world of IT.

IT extraverts

Extraverts are all about communication. Internet to them is world of endless possibilities. IT is something they welcome as stream of shiny discoveries.

it_extravert

it_extravert

Image by briansolis.

  • they single-handedly define social media;
  • they had tried every IM tool and ended up using monstrous clients that support multiply protocols;
  • they empower whirlwinds of social networks and suck rest of world in them;
  • they are those who hold banners of cutting-edge.

Extraverts live in crowds and IT is part of their lives.

IT introverts

Introverts are all about themselves. Internet to them is network of information. IT is area of knowledge to research and understand.

it_introvert

it_introvert

Photo by saital.

  • they lurk, sometimes lured out by thoughts and discussions too tasty to ignore;
  • they rarely reach out to others and almost never in friendly for-the-sake-of-socializing manner;
  • they create and destroy systems and places – not because they are interested in them but because process itself is enchanting;
  • they are those who seek grails of best solutions.

Introverts live in quiet places and IT part of their minds.

Who are you?

How IT and Internet complement your life and mind? Are you aware of places that you never thought of visiting? Of content you get daily and how others can find very different value in same information?

Tell me. That’s a total introvert willingly asking for communication, don’t take it lightly.

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17 Comments

  • Lyndi #

    I am not sure where I would place myself. I have always been a bit of an introvert on the Net as well as in real life. The strange thing is that I am slowly changing. I often find myself taking part in conversations that I previously would have stayed away from. The same thing is happening in real life. The Net is definitely slowly giving me more confidence in myself. I have one further problem. My first language is not English and this fact does not really help on the Net. My English is improving and this most probably is causing the increase in confidence. Pretty soon I will be a full-blown extrovert and then everyone will struggle to keep me quiet. :-)

  • Rarst #

    @Lyndi It's mistake to think that introverts are always silent ones. It's just different priorities. For extravert value of discussion is socializing. For introvert value of discussion is content. I move in direction of reinforcing my introversion with age. In the past I often socialized to blend. After escaping teens I can be more picky about my surroundings and people to talk.

  • Anshanaou #

    I rather think my self as introvert. I can't enjoying social networking like facebooks, friendster, and all stuff like that. Every time i tried all have same ending, i just disband the account and then no update. What i really enjoy is something like Projectw or forum that share though, download link and not your personal life. But i hope someday i can enjoying social networking. Thanks

  • Rarst #

    @Anshanaou >I can’t enjoying social networking like facebooks, friendster, and all stuff like that. Every time i tried all have same ending, i just disband the account and then no update. Yes, I know the feeling. I could stick to some professional network, but couldn't stand local social network even for two weeks. I hope my blog offers you enough download links and not too much personal life. :) Thanks for visiting and commenting.

  • Ben #

    I'd say I'm kind of in-between. Like many others, I don't stand facebook and all these kind of social networks. I'm on them, but you know...Just because I was pissed of getting so many invites in my inbox. At the same time, I like to network with other people so I can get more traffic to my websites...I'd say I'm extravert as long as I control the flow of information.

  • Rarst #

    @Ben >I’d say I’m extravert as long as I control the flow of information. That's like exact introvert definition. :) Introverts can network and everything, they just usually do it with specific purpose like you. For example plenty of people hang out at blogcatalog to sit and flood discussions (extravert), you are doing it to accumulate friends list and make broadcasts about your posts (introvert). It's not a place that makes a difference, it's purpose that does.

  • Nihar #

    I think i am extrovert in this case. nice post. First of it kinds where you are comparing extrovert and introvert qualities with IT.

  • Rarst #

    @Nihar It's not really comparing, more like projecting. Somehow in IT we are usually talking about generalized users, generalized admins, generalized programmers, etc... It's not the case, people have different characters and that does have an impact on their interactions with IT stuff. Thanks for visit and comment, bookmarked your blog to browse properly later. :)

  • Patrick K. O'Brien #

    I would definitely characterize myself as an introvert. But I still like a fair amount of socializing, and I find a lot of the online social networking tools rather appealing. Perhaps it's because I can control how social I want to be at that moment. Introverts can have social skills. We just wield them differently than extroverts.

  • Rarst #

    @Patrick K. O'Brien >Perhaps it’s because I can control how social I want to be at that moment. Yep, being in control can definitely make introvert bit more talkative. It's not that we don't want to start discussions, it's that we don't want to start discussion that won't be interesting. Thanks for visit and comment btw.

  • Pavan Kumar #

    Probably I am an introvert who consider internet as a knowledge stream. I don't use messengers regularly, if anyone needs any support from me, they mail me to get on with messenger and I do...

  • Rarst #

    @Pavan Kumar Yeah, I totally understand. Sometimes you just shut other people online out and work with Internet like with huge awesome encyclopedia. Still people can help more than Wikipedia article at times. :) Thanks for sharing your opinion. Maybe I'll accumulate bit more comments and do a follow-up post.

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