I don't know whether to pity or laugh at HR when they encounter the (rare) gamma with the skills they really, really need. It feels like they both deserve each other.
I once gave a glowing reference to an acquaintance for a teaching position at a prestigious upstate NY parochial school. It was only later after learning about the Socio Sexual Hierarchy that I realized he is a Gamma. In retrospect, it is not surprising that he did not last very long in that position, and has since languished in odd jobs and freelance copy writing. He is quite off putting and incapable of working well with others.
We had a bumbling accident-prone employee where I work. He was moved from department to department wreaking havoc wherever he went until someone had the horrifying idea to put him in the material handling department, where he promptly drove his forklift into metal racking dislodging it and injuring a fellow employee. Management wanted to fire him. I wasn’t so sure. How could we unleash him on an unsuspecting world? I considered him an existential threat to humanity. What happens if his next job was at a nuclear power plant or a dangerous chemical storage facility? No, we had a responsibility, I felt our only option was to contain and monitor him in some kind of heavy duty fire-retardant sealed enclosure deep underground.
You're so right. He actually thought he was the most competent employee at the company. How do I know? One day, an anonymous rambling "manifesto" appeared on the bulletin board next to the timeclock, it contained a litany of complaints and accusations. There's a camera at the time clock. We replayed the video, and there he was.
Unrelated comment, but Trump killing USAID was pulling a drain in the swamp. He really did it. He started his second term by draining the swamp in a big way.
The chairwoman of our Spanish department did this 15 years ago. Wrote a glowing recommendation for an ineffective, no class control, couldn’t speak Spanish, 6’2” full of himself beta male teacher - to a high paying distinct in Westchester County.
Problem solved. Even at the time I understood the smooth move she made.
I’ve unloaded more than one misfit in my day. They usually don’t ask for a recommendation, they usually brag as if it was one up on me. Every time the replacement turned out to be a star performer.
That said, I’ve also been the unhappy recipient of a bull gamma lemon. I didn’t realize it at the time (it was a merger, I met the dude once). Worst time of my life. The whole company knew he was insufferable. Ended up firing him.
Then the company got bought by a monster. A year later, a pro services director asked for a reference on him. I had to tell him he was fired for cause, and why.
Fool brought him on as a contractor. That’s ok, I guess. They keep those guys on a short leash.
Not doing his job. When we merged he wound up under me and my alpha boss. He was unprepared and ill equipped to deal with a high performing group. He didn’t agree with where my boss and the rest of the E team wanted to go. So he dragged his feet and blew deadline after deadline.
One thing that is really strange in software engineering is that I swear that in my experience at least, it was mostly a delta affair with a few bravos sprinkled here and there to act as the Liaison between the executives and the delta troops during the 90s.
We dressed better, we got happy when we had to use a suit to visit a customer, we respected hierarchy and felt ourserves at home within it, we valued experience. In the 90s most of us where heteros, at least half married with kids. There was the occasional gamma, the occasional weirdo, but they were at most tolerated, not celebrated.
By the way, I don't remember us calling ourselves software engineers, we refered to ourselves in a functional way: programmers, system analysts, DBAs or System Admins.
It was never an exciting profession, but it was a respected one, like being an accountant. We definitelly had our place in society and were not hell bent on perverting it like the modern Big Tech blue hair gamma.
But somehow, around the 00s, I felt like the profession was under an invasion of gammas, and things have been downhill since then.
The "Eternal September" was a cultural phenomenon that began in September 1993. It was a period when the internet became more popular and the number of new users on Usenet seemed to be endless. Online civility lost.
The physical world going crazy over the internet started around 1999 and by 2001 the US broke spiritually over 911. Then the fast decline. Christianity lost in public.
Social media and Smart phones being phase 3. Then 2013 BLM type movements to really ruin any incoming workers. All social norms lost.
Before most people were activitists they just lead normal lives.
A friend of mine was a tech recruiter / head hunter back around 2000, . He said very often a hiring client would take him aside and whisper , "please also try to recruit THAT guy AWAY from here. I can't fire him, but he needs to go. Here's his direct number".
This is why I never trust references. I really need to develop some questions just to determine the SSH of an applicant. “Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What happened? What did you do after you discovered it?” Is usually a decent one. But isn’t also such a standard question that I some Gammas probably just google model answers.
What lawsuit? SSH isn’t any protected status. Besides, it’s really, really hard to lose a non selection lawsuit. I work HR and I’ve not once seen us lose a non selection.
I don’t think the question itself is as important as identifying the predictable responses that a gamma would give. The hardest part would be identifying tells that would separate the low deltas from the gammas. In general you are trying to predict where they fall on the spectrums of solipsism and insecurity.
Poor Doof, has a female boss. I wouldn't wish that on even a gamma.
I don't know whether to pity or laugh at HR when they encounter the (rare) gamma with the skills they really, really need. It feels like they both deserve each other.
I once gave a glowing reference to an acquaintance for a teaching position at a prestigious upstate NY parochial school. It was only later after learning about the Socio Sexual Hierarchy that I realized he is a Gamma. In retrospect, it is not surprising that he did not last very long in that position, and has since languished in odd jobs and freelance copy writing. He is quite off putting and incapable of working well with others.
We had a guy who wanted to move departments. Every manager was on board. He lasted a week in the other department.
We had a bumbling accident-prone employee where I work. He was moved from department to department wreaking havoc wherever he went until someone had the horrifying idea to put him in the material handling department, where he promptly drove his forklift into metal racking dislodging it and injuring a fellow employee. Management wanted to fire him. I wasn’t so sure. How could we unleash him on an unsuspecting world? I considered him an existential threat to humanity. What happens if his next job was at a nuclear power plant or a dangerous chemical storage facility? No, we had a responsibility, I felt our only option was to contain and monitor him in some kind of heavy duty fire-retardant sealed enclosure deep underground.
The Gamma of Amontillado. True horror.
You're so right. He actually thought he was the most competent employee at the company. How do I know? One day, an anonymous rambling "manifesto" appeared on the bulletin board next to the timeclock, it contained a litany of complaints and accusations. There's a camera at the time clock. We replayed the video, and there he was.
The best thing to do would have been to tell him up front that he was clumsy and a danger to himself and others. That's the only way that people grow.
The eyes in the first frame made me lol.
Unrelated comment, but Trump killing USAID was pulling a drain in the swamp. He really did it. He started his second term by draining the swamp in a big way.
The chairwoman of our Spanish department did this 15 years ago. Wrote a glowing recommendation for an ineffective, no class control, couldn’t speak Spanish, 6’2” full of himself beta male teacher - to a high paying distinct in Westchester County.
Problem solved. Even at the time I understood the smooth move she made.
I’ve unloaded more than one misfit in my day. They usually don’t ask for a recommendation, they usually brag as if it was one up on me. Every time the replacement turned out to be a star performer.
That said, I’ve also been the unhappy recipient of a bull gamma lemon. I didn’t realize it at the time (it was a merger, I met the dude once). Worst time of my life. The whole company knew he was insufferable. Ended up firing him.
Then the company got bought by a monster. A year later, a pro services director asked for a reference on him. I had to tell him he was fired for cause, and why.
Fool brought him on as a contractor. That’s ok, I guess. They keep those guys on a short leash.
Not my problem.
What was the cause for the firing?
Not doing his job. When we merged he wound up under me and my alpha boss. He was unprepared and ill equipped to deal with a high performing group. He didn’t agree with where my boss and the rest of the E team wanted to go. So he dragged his feet and blew deadline after deadline.
He was probably the only one shocked by his undignified release.
In government it's called Pass the Trash.
Bingo
When you can't change the flat tire, rotating it off of the steering axle is the next best solution.
One thing that is really strange in software engineering is that I swear that in my experience at least, it was mostly a delta affair with a few bravos sprinkled here and there to act as the Liaison between the executives and the delta troops during the 90s.
We dressed better, we got happy when we had to use a suit to visit a customer, we respected hierarchy and felt ourserves at home within it, we valued experience. In the 90s most of us where heteros, at least half married with kids. There was the occasional gamma, the occasional weirdo, but they were at most tolerated, not celebrated.
By the way, I don't remember us calling ourselves software engineers, we refered to ourselves in a functional way: programmers, system analysts, DBAs or System Admins.
It was never an exciting profession, but it was a respected one, like being an accountant. We definitelly had our place in society and were not hell bent on perverting it like the modern Big Tech blue hair gamma.
But somehow, around the 00s, I felt like the profession was under an invasion of gammas, and things have been downhill since then.
Greater Prestige may have led to more Gammas entering the field.
Activists invading nodes of power also likely correlates with more Gammas invading said nodes of power.
Phase 2 of Eternal September.
The "Eternal September" was a cultural phenomenon that began in September 1993. It was a period when the internet became more popular and the number of new users on Usenet seemed to be endless. Online civility lost.
The physical world going crazy over the internet started around 1999 and by 2001 the US broke spiritually over 911. Then the fast decline. Christianity lost in public.
Social media and Smart phones being phase 3. Then 2013 BLM type movements to really ruin any incoming workers. All social norms lost.
Before most people were activitists they just lead normal lives.
A friend of mine was a tech recruiter / head hunter back around 2000, . He said very often a hiring client would take him aside and whisper , "please also try to recruit THAT guy AWAY from here. I can't fire him, but he needs to go. Here's his direct number".
Gammas… the Christmas fruitcakes of the workplace
This is why I never trust references. I really need to develop some questions just to determine the SSH of an applicant. “Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What happened? What did you do after you discovered it?” Is usually a decent one. But isn’t also such a standard question that I some Gammas probably just google model answers.
Threat of lawsuit, promise of being rid of them.
Stick and Carrot.
What lawsuit? SSH isn’t any protected status. Besides, it’s really, really hard to lose a non selection lawsuit. I work HR and I’ve not once seen us lose a non selection.
"Tell me about a time you were right , everyone else was wrong, and what you did about it?"
Oooh, I really like this one. I’m stealing it!
Asking questions about how they respond to conflict in the work place would be a good one.
Then how well they do with female bosses.
Then how well they do with hierarchies.
Bang the drums on the issues they fail on. See if the walls come tumbling down while you lay siege.
I don’t think the question itself is as important as identifying the predictable responses that a gamma would give. The hardest part would be identifying tells that would separate the low deltas from the gammas. In general you are trying to predict where they fall on the spectrums of solipsism and insecurity.
Trust me, you can tell who the Gamma is, right away.
Easily one of the top 5 funniest Hypergamouse episodes!
The Gamma Principle - Never miss a chance to make a Gamma someone else’s problem.
Preferably lock them all in a room together.
And what shall we call them? A complaint of gammas?
A smug of Gammas
I dunno. But they definitely would be in hell by that point.