The Verge continues to contradict itself even after the Pao verdict. The latest? Describing how symbolic the trial is while saying that it was overstated, then saying that the verdict was "unjust" without ever explaining why.

I just saw the term 'brogrammer'. What fucking bullshit is this? Being good at maths and programming languages makes you some kind of patriarchal pariah, now?

No, in my opinion this is yet again a term being misused by internet drama students. Maybe the meaning has shifted, but "Brogrammer" didn't originally simply mean a male nerd, or even a programmer who liked watching sports instead of anime. It wasn't a programmer who was also a bro, either. It meant someone who wasn't really a programmer, but was just a "bro" pretending to be one.

Brogrammer was a derogatory term originally coined in the '90s by other programmers to describe someone who was dismissive of technological minutiae and related skills, and specifically got where they were in the business world through their frat and schmoozing, not their chops. There was some jealousy and culture conflict issues present, but I remember it mainly being about someone not being qualified for the job and being an anti-nerd jerk.

Most importantly, it was something specific to late '90s business culture and has nothing to do with most of what goes on in actually functional tech companies nowadays, who would usually spot such assholes quick because they require actual work be done at some point.

Having a popped collar, chugging Red Bull, and wearing sunglasses at your desk didn't make you a brogrammer, but having those and a shitty, dismissive attitude about your shitty code did.

Brogrammer was, back then, a Dilbert-esque sort of label for people fresh out of college entering business, faking their skills, socializing while ignoring technical realities, then dumping the inevitably failing disaster to hit the next company-funded project launch party.

Basically, it was about business people being assholes, not about male nerds being jerks to female nerds. Though I'm sure that also happened a lot with those assholes.

Many of those who now misuse the term (IMO) like this weren't even eating solid food when it was actually first used. But that leads into a linguistic descriptivist vs. prescriptivist argument that no one wants.

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