ot. Teams work better together, and respect is formed when information is shared. Troubleshooting is more efficient when more than one person knows how something works. Think about who you admire in the computer industry. Chances are you admire those people because they've taught you something. Finally, if you know something is catastrophically wrong with a project, don't wait until a meeting to blindside everyone with it. This tactic is a hallmark of the computer jerk. Bringing up bad news in a meeting adds shock value to his statement and ensures that everyone will listen to him. What's more, the computer jerk believes that doing this shows everyone how smart he really is. Managers, in particular, don't like surprises, especially during meetings. The proper way to deal with the delivery of bad news is to quietly inform your manager SO she can spread the word. Then the problem can be dealt with in the meeting, instead of the reactions to the announcement. Environmental I believe that computer jerks are the way they are because they are allowed and, in some cases, encouraged to be this way. One of the key influencing factors is lack of self- esteem. People want to be liked, or even better, respected. The problem with computer jerks is that they think the way to gain respect is to show people how smart they are. I used to work in a company that reinforced the alpha-geek personality in someone who exhibited the archetypal alpha-geek tendencies. The problem was that this guy was good-he just wasn't as good as he'd made everyone believe. This led to no end of bad designs and problems that the management teams supported, directly fueling the personality traits that were causing the problems in the first place. When I sat with this person and explained that his ideas were valuable-but needed some tweaking to be better-he was interested. When I sat with him and explained that his personality was holding him back, he was also interested. Within weeks of working with him, he changed for the better. With leadership and men