I love nerd culture. I recently researched Reverse Polish Notation jokes for fun. Dilbert and The Big Bang Theory are the height of cultural humor. Google is good, Microsoft is bad, Apple is a weird mix of amazing and terrible. Pick your stereotype. I fit many.
Many of us believe that we need to suppress many of these enjoyments when we socialize for business outside of our typical circles. I’ll admit many people don’t quite get our sense of humor. They don’t laugh at all the same things that we enjoy. But somehow – geek culture has been becoming more and more mainstream. Larping isn’t there yet (and honestly, probably never will) but WoW is certainly crossing into pop culture.
They tell us that we need to be more like the people we’re meeting with and talking to, but people don’t choose to work with those most like themselves. They choose to work with experts and those experienced in the job at hand. For technical work, what better indicator is there than finding math humor funny?
Engineers, unlike my other suggestions this week today I tell you to be more yourself! Don’t get me wrong, don’t go all out and too far down the rabbit hole but feel free to be yourself in company. Not only will this make you more comfortable, but it trying to fit in is usually one of those things that prevents a person from actually fitting in. So go out and tell those Matrix jokes, tell people not to drink and derive, recite pi out to the 30th (or more) position.