I've been a professional software developer for more than 10 years. With the decade ending, I did a reflection of major changes I've seen in the industry the past 10 years, across mobile, web, backend development and engineering careers. A lot has changed, from Javascript adoption, through iOS/Android growth and distributed systems becoming more accessible. One trend stood out though, that I think is more important than any technology innovation. It's how the "brilliant jerk" developer is slowly being pushed out from better developer teams and companies.

Brilliant jerk developers fading away. In 2010, the industry was filled with "brilliant jerks" and 10x engineers - guys who were supposedly great coders but had zero social skills. If you could not work with one of these people, the blame was on you. With more mature engineering management, managers (and teams) now realize how toxic these people are. Better companies don't hire people with toxic attitude. See also the No Asshole Rule book.

I've experienced this change firsthand. 2010-2015 I had the poor luck to work with a few of these individuals. They were ones who walked over others, were hostile to any form of constructive criticism and made others feel threatened - especially minorities on the team. Managers I worked with had no clue how to handle them, being too afraid to take action. They were afraid to confront them, let alone think of managing them out, as they saw these people were often the star performers on the team - on paper. This was not just small companies: Microsoft was a place I observed quite a few people roaming around.

Starting from around 2015, I am seeing lots of change in the right direction, towards inclusive and safe cultures and teams. People are sharing their negative experiences, calling out companies that handle situations like this poorly. Companies that get a reputation of being friendly to the "brilliant jerk" types see a sharp drop on talent wanting to work there. As an engineering manager, I say no to otherwise talented engineers, if they are hostile towards interviewers or display signs of being unable to take feedback or being overly defensive - characteristics of a brilliant jerk.

I also don't hire engineering managers who do not know how to deal with brilliant jerks on a team. There is only one good way to deal with a situation like this: give feedback, help the person change. If they don't: manage them out for the sake of the team, no matter how brilliant they might be.

Dev.to is a fantastic example of the "no brilliant jerks allowed" rule in action across an online community, making this a safe place for everyone to participate to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, there are still places that pay less attention to spotting people with this behavior, giving them direct feedback and educating teams about microaggressions and the inclusive workplace.

Fortunately, it seems we are at a turning point, as an industry. This is a topic I'm planning on actively exploring in my book on growing as a software engineer, and how role model senior engineers have a responsibility in leading by example on creating safe and supportive working environments - especially for beginners and those new to the company and industry.

Here's to hoping that by 2030 we'll look back and ask "What do you mean by a brilliant jerk? Haven't come across one of them in a decade..."