Your Hacker - Care and Feeding
The author of this text is seebs@plethora.net.
The official site is http://www.plethora.net/~seebs/faqs/hacker.html.
Questions and Answers:
Section 0: Basic understanding.
0.0: Won't my hacker
break into my computer and steal my trade secrets?
- No. Hackers aren't, contrary to media reporting,
the people who break into computers. Those are crackers.
Hackers are people who enjoy playing with computers.
Your hacker may occasionally circumvent security
measures, but this is not malicious; she just does
it when the security is in her way, or because she's
curious.
0.1: Was it a good
idea to hire a hacker?
- It depends on the job. A hacker can be dramatically
more effective than a non-hacker at a job, or dramatically
less effective. Jobs where hackers are particularly
good are:
- Systems administration
- Programming
- Design
- Jobs where hackers are particularly bad are
More generally, a job that requires fast and
unexpected changes, significant skill, and is
not very repetitive will be one a hacker will
excel at. Repetitive, simple jobs are a waste
of a good hacker, and will make your hacker bored
and frustrated. No one works well bored and frustrated.
The good news is, if you get a hacker on something
he particularly likes, you will frequently see
performance on the order of five to ten times
what a "normal" worker would produce. This is
not consistent, and you shouldn't expect to see
it all the time, but it will happen. This is most
visible on particularly difficult tasks.
0.2: How should I
manage my hacker?
- The same way you herd cats. It can be a bit confusing;
they're not like most other workers. Don't worry!
Your hacker is likely to be willing to suggest answers
to problems, if asked. Most hackers are nearly self-managing.
0.3: Wait, you just
said "10 times", didn't you? You're not serious,
right?
- Actually, I said "ten times". And yes, I am serious;
a hacker on a roll may be able to produce, in a
period of a few months, something that a small development
group (say, 7-8 people) would have a hard time getting
together over a year. He also may not. Your mileage
will vary.
IBM used to report that certain programmers might
be as much as 100 times as productive as other
workers, or more. This kind of thing happens.
0.4: I don't understand
this at all. This is confusing. Is there a book
on this?
- Not yet. In the meantime, check out The
New Hacker's Dictionary (references below;
also known as "the jargon file"), in particular
some of the appendices. The entire work is full
of clarifications and details of how hackers think.
Section 1: Social issues
1.0: My hacker doesn't
fit in well with our corporate society. She seems
to do her work well, but she's not really making
many friends.
- This is common. Your hacker may not have found
any people around who get along with hackers. You
may wish to consider offering her a position telecommuting,
or flexible hours (read: night shift), which may
actually improve her productivity. Or hire another
one.
1.1: My hacker seems
to dress funny. Is there any way to impress upon
him the importance of corporate appearance?
- Your hacker has a very good understanding of the
importance of corporate appearance. It doesn't help
you get your job done. IBM, Ford, and Microsoft
have all realized that people work better when they
can dress however they want. Your hacker is dressed
comfortably. A polite request to dress up some for
special occasions may well be honored, and most
hackers will cheerfully wear clothes without (unintentional)
holes in them if specifically asked.
1.2: My hacker won't
call me by my title, and doesn't seem to respect
me at all.
- Your hacker doesn't respect your title. Hackers
don't believe that management is "above" engineering;
they believe that management is doing one job, and
engineering is doing another. They may well frequently
talk as if management is beneath them, but this
is really quite fair; your question implies that
you talk as if engineering is beneath you. Treat
your hacker as an equal, and she will probably treat
you as an equal -- quite a compliment!
1.3: My hacker constantly
insults the work of my other workers.
- Take your hacker aside, and ask for details of
what's wrong with the existing work. It may be that
there's something wrong with it. Don't let the fact
that it runs most of the time fool you; your hacker
is probably bothered by the fact that it crashes
at all. He may be able to suggest improvements which
could dramatically improve performance, reliability,
or other features. It's worth looking into.
You may be able to convince your hacker to be
more polite, but if there appear to be major differences,
it's quite possible that one or more of your existing
staff are incompetent. Note that hackers, of course,
have different standards of competence than many
other people. (Read "different" as "much higher".)
Section 2: Productivity.
2.0: My hacker plays
video games on company time.
- Hackers, writers, and painters all need some amount
of time to spend "percolating" -- doing something
else to let their subconscious work on a problem.
Your hacker is probably stuck on something difficult.
Don't worry about it.
2.1: But it's been
two weeks since I saw anything!
- Your hacker is working, alone probably, on a big
project, and just started, right? She's probably
trying to figure it all out in advance. Ask her
how it's going; if she starts a lot of sentences,
but interrupts them all with "no, wait..." or "drat,
that won't work", it's going well.
2.2: Isn't this damaging
to productivity?
- No. Your hacker needs to recreate and think about
things in many ways. He will be more productive
with this recreation than without it. Your hacker
enjoys working; don't worry about things getting
done reasonably well and quickly.
2.3: My hacker is
constantly doing things unrelated to her job responsibilities.
- Do they need to be done? Very few hackers can
resist solving a problem when they can solve it,
and no one else is solving it. For that matter,
is your hacker getting her job done? If so, consider
these other things a freebie or perk (for you).
Although it may not be conventional, it's probably
helping out quite a bit.
2.4: My hacker is
writing a book, reading USENET news, playing video
games, talking with friends on the phone, and
building sculptures out of paper clips. On company
time!
- He sounds happy. The chances are he's in one of
three states:
- Basic job responsibilities are periodic (phone
support, documentation, et al.) and there's
a lull in incoming work. Don't worry about it!
- Your hacker is stuck on a difficult problem.
- Your hacker is bored silly and is trying to
find amusement. Perhaps you should find him
more challenging work?
Any of these factors may be involved. All of
them may be involved. In general, if the work
is challenging, and is getting done, don't worry
too much about the process. You might ask for
your corporation to be given credit in the book.
2.5: But my other
workers are offended by my hacker's success, and
it hurts their productivity.
- Do you really need to have workers around who
would rather be the person getting something done,
than have it done already? Ego has very little place
in the workplace. If they can't do it well, assign
them to something they can do.
Section 3: Stimulus and
response
3.0: My hacker did
something good, and I want to reward him.
- Good! Here are some of the things most hackers
would like to receive in exchange for their work:
- Respect.
- Admiration.
- Compliments.
- Understanding.
- Discounts on expensive toys.
- Money.
These are not necessarily in order. The 4th item
(understanding) is the most difficult. Try to
remember this good thing your hacker just did
the next time you discover he just spent a day
playing x-trek. Rather than complaining about
getting work done, write it off as "a perk" that
was granted (informally) as a bonus for a job
well done. Don't worry; hackers get bored quickly
when they aren't doing their work.
3.1: My hacker did
something bad, and I want to punish him.
- Don't. 30 years of psychological research has
shown that punishment has no desirable long-term
effects. Your hacker is not a lab rat. (Even if
he were a lab rat, punishment wouldn't
work; at least, not if he were one of the sorts
of lab rats the psych research was done on.) If
you don't like something your hacker is doing, express
your concerns. Explain what it is that bothers you
about the behavior.
Be prepared for an argument; your hacker is a
rational entity, and presumably had reasons. Don't
jump on him too quickly; they may turn out to
be good reasons.
Don't be afraid to apologize if you're wrong.
If your hacker admits to having been wrong, don't
demand an apology; so far as the hacker is concerned,
admitting to being wrong is an apology,
most likely.
3.2: I don't get
it. I offered my hacker a significant promotion,
and she turned it down and acted offended.
- A promotion frequently involves spending more
time listening to people describing what they're
doing, and less time playing with computers. Your
hacker is enjoying her work; if you want to offer
a reward, consider an improvement in title, a possible
raise, and some compliments. Make sure your hacker
knows you are pleased with her accomplishments
-- that's what she's there for.
3.3: My company policy
won't let me give my hacker any more raises until
he's in management.
- Your company policy is broken. A hacker can earn
as much as $200 an hour (sometimes more) doing freelance
consulting. You may wish to offer your hacker a
contracted permanent consulting position with benefits,
or otherwise find loopholes. Or, find perks to offer
- many hackers will cheerfully accept a discount
on hardware from their favorite manufacturer as
an effective raise.
3.4: I can't believe
the hacker on my staff is worth as much as we're
paying.
- Ask the other staff in the department what the
hacker does, and what they think of it. The chances
are that your hacker is spending a few hours a week
answering arcane questions that would otherwise
require an expensive external consultant. Your hacker
may be fulfilling another job's worth of responsibilities
in his spare time around the office. Very few hackers
aren't worth what they're getting paid; they enjoy
accomplishing difficult tasks, and improving worker
efficiency.
Section 4: What does that
mean?
4.0: My hacker doesn't
speak English. At least, I don't think
so.
- Your hacker is a techie. Your best bet is to pick
up a copy of TNHD (The New Hacker's Dictionary).
It can be found here
or from a good bookstore. If you have trouble understanding
that reference, ask your hacker if she has a copy,
or would be willing to explain her terms. Most hackers
are willing to explain terms. Be ready for condescension;
it's not intended as an insult, but if you don't
know the words, she probably has to talk
down to you at first to explain them.
It's a reasonably difficult set of words; there
are a lot of them, and their usage is much more
precise than it sounds. Hackers love word games.
[It is also possible that English is not your
hacker's native language, and that it's not yours
either. Feel free to substitute a more appropriate
language.]
4.1: I can't get
an estimate out of my hacker.
- Your hacker hasn't figured out how hard the problem
is yet. Unlike most workers, hackers will try very
hard to refuse to give an estimate until they know
for sure that they understand the problem. This
may include solving it.
No good engineer goes beyond 95% certainty. Most
hackers are good engineers. If you say you will
not try to hold him to the estimate (and mean
it!) you are much more likely to get an approximate
estimate. The estimate may sound very high or
very low; it may be very high or very low. Still,
it's an estimate, and you get what you ask for.
4.2: My hacker makes
obscure, meaningless jokes.
- If you feel brave, ask for an explanation. Most
of them can be explained. It may take a while, but
it may prove interesting.
4.3: My hacker counts
from zero.
- So does the computer. You can hide it, but computers
count from zero. Most hackers do by habit, also.
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