I have had many such experiences. A friend introduced me to a girl. On our first meeting, when I mentioned that I was a programmer, she had a strange expression. Some more outspoken girls would directly ask: "I heard that you programmers are all a bit... that..."

The "that" they meant, I think, would be "wooden," "introverted," "quiet," "slovenly," "eccentric," and so on. I don't deny it at all; the facts are roughly like that. But I don't take these so-called shortcomings seriously. Many things have two sides, as said in "Excuse Me, What Is Your Biggest Weakness?": If Einstein had liked focusing on details, he would not have been Einstein.

Programmers' personalities are mostly introverted. Introversion manifests as stillness, and stillness is a condition conducive to deep thinking. That sounds somewhat philosophical, no wonder many people don't understand programmers. Although I am quite at ease, sometimes I can't stand people mocking programmers, especially in public. Not long ago on a bus I heard two girls discussing us: she said that the programmers in their company all talk like this:

This is a bit too much. Each profession has its specialization, and different trades are as worlds apart. If they don't understand software, fine, but there's no need to mock us behind our backs like that.

For me, that isn't the most disheartening thing. As Eileen Chang said in "Blockade," for these people, after getting off the bus, each goes his own way. But when people you deal with every day see you that way, it's a real problem. I'm talking about my company's clients. You discuss requirements and problems with them, and when there's nothing else, you have to fake courtesy at the dinner table. But deep down they look down on you, treating you as an alien.

Why are programmers treated as oddballs?!