That\u2019s the question we\u2019re going to try and answer today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just to be clear<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before starting, it\u2019s probably worth pointing out that being an extrovert or an introvert doesn\u2019t really mean that you\u2019re good or bad at socialising. Your \u201cskills\u201d at talking to or befriending other people, or your general charm, aren\u2019t really the metric here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, the definition has to do with energy levels. Introverts placed in large groups of people and asked to interact with many of them will typically find the experience exhausting and overbearing, regardless of how well they can or cannot \u201cnavigate\u201d it. Extroverts are the opposite: they will feel pumped up and exhilarated in the above-mentioned situation, while their energies will deplete very quickly when doing stuff by themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While not the object of the article, this distinction is worth drawing and bearing in mind throughout, because it\u2019s what separates an actual psychological definition<\/a> from simply a collection of stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, researching how many introverts and extroverts populate the tech industry proved to be surprisingly challenging. Anecdotal evidence \u2013 speaking with other programmers \u2013 would seem to suggest that introverts make up the overwhelming majority of the programing scene. But proper studies and surveys on the subject were surprisingly difficult to find, and those I did find suggested the ratio was not quite as clean cut. This study<\/a>, for example, tells us that introverts make up 58% of the total workforce \u2013 a majority for sure, but hardly an overwhelming one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the resilience of the \u201cprogrammers are shy nerds\u201d clich\u00e9, it seems reasonable to suggest that extroverts in tech may not be quite as uncommon as many believe \u2013 and that perhaps the \u201cneed\u201d for more of them is overstated, even granting the undeniable benefits of diversifying a workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, the career of a programmer is not a static thing, and it\u2019s quite possible that introverts and extroverts may both start out as developers but simply take different paths from there. In other words, perhaps as many outgoing people enter<\/em> tech, but more of them end up in management or customer-facing roles, reducing a disparity which is retrospectively (and fallaciously) rationalized as \u201cextroverts are just not attracted to tech\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, if there\u2019s any point in investigating whether tech needs more extroverts, it\u2019s to figure out an action plan. Is there a shortcoming, or a problem in our (sub)culture? And if there is, what should we do about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on what we have said so far, it seems that there is<\/em> indeed a problem \u2013 but not the one we expected to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we should focus our energy on fixing is not so much the ratio of introverts to extroverts in tech, but the diehard idea that coding is primarily or even exclusively something for introverts. This idea stubbornly refuses to go extinct, even though it is manifestly false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/files\/AdobeStock-by-1STunningART_210454709-1024x627.jpeg\")
Questioning the numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A lot of speculation, but where does it leave us?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n