Sarah Sharp Steps Down As Linux Kernel Developer

[andre30correia]

no big news here, most of IT developers are stupid and have big problems with social relationship, and people have big balls in internet

[ihatemichael]

Attention whore.

[L_A_G]

While I will admit that the kind of heavy handed criticism that is passed around on the kernel mailing lists may deter a lot of people from taking part in kernel development, I don't think that constitutes a "toxic" work environment. In my mind the worst aspect of traditional corporate culture is how it tries to protect the reputation of senior staff and pass the fault down the corporate ladder whenever something goes wrong. With Linux kernel development it's exactly the opposite. The higher you sit on the ladder, the harsher the criticism you get when you screw up and I think this is exactly how it should be. When you're in a senior position you should be expected to have earned it and be able to continue proving that your promotions were earned and not a case of nepotism.

What Sarah Sharp tried to was get rid of this culture of frank and honest criticism leveled at even the most senior developers. This would have been the end of one of the big strengths of the Linux kernel development methodology. I personally don't believe a culture without honest criticism is ever a good thing for any kind of software or hardware development. This sort of "when you're being incompetent, you're being incompetent no matter how high up the ladder you are"-culture exists in a lot of other places. The only difference is that you don't get senior developers and managers being chewed out on mailing lists visible to junior developers and even the general public.

However don't get me wrong, I will admit that Torvalds' rants do have a tendency to go less than professional and it's not just how he starts insulting people in Finnish when he gets really angry over losing hours of work because of amateur mistakes. As a Finn I actually have to defend him a bit as Finnish is a very good language for swearing and expressing general rage. There's really nothing quite like a Finnish man yelling "PERKELEEN PERKELEEN PERKELE!!!!!" at the top of his lungs.

[kgonzales]

IT teams have always been a place for males with hygienic and social issues. Live with it or leave, Princess.

I always loved getting those guys fired and replaced with talented individuals who knew how to shower, have a discussion and in general be human.

[sarmad]

There is an ancient Arabic proverb that translates to: If the head of the family is playing music, then the entire family will be dancers. Meaning: expect the entire kernel community to be as toxic as Linus Torvalds.

[Lanz]

This kind of SJW crap needs to stop. Enough is enough. Pretty soon we won't be able to get anything done.

[Guest]

Quality shitposts here in forum, 10/10.

Interestingly, she nailed the reasons perfectly:
> The focus on technical excellence, in combination with overloaded maintainers, and people with different cultural and social norms, means that Linux kernel maintainers are often blunt, rude, or brutal to get their job done. Top Linux kernel developers often yell at each other in order to correct each other?s behavior.

She perceives that as a bad thing, but in my view this attitude is awesome and gets shit done. To quote our idol (Linus Torvalds): ".. people who get offended, should get offended".
No need to be little crybaby about it.

PS: This post was intentionally written in pollitically incorrect way.

[yogi_berra]

If kernel developers had employee status, the sexist nonsense Sarah is concerned with would be shut down immediately at significant financial costs.

They are employees of various companies. However, the nonsense that you and Sarah are whining about wouldn't result in anything more than a verbal questioning at any reasonable place of employment.

[moilami]

Drama

[gigaplex]

If you don't like criticism then don't do kernel development, it is necessary to be able to criticise people who submit bad code otherwise the kernal would be a complete mess.

If you cannot handle the heat then stay out of the kitchen.

There's a difference between providing constructive criticism on the work, and just flat out abusing the person. I once submitted a patch to fix a driver related to my optical drive, and was called a jerk because apparently the upstream guy already fixed it in his personal branch (this was before git, there was no visibility into his branch) and I just wasn't patient enough.