Grifters, believers, grinders, and coasters

The article says many programmer arguments come from a cultural clash between four kinds of engineers: grifters, believers, coasters, and grinders. It argues that good companies usually need a healthy mix of all four, and that these are work styles rather than fixed traits.

Reading notes

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• Grifters focus on what leadership rewards, use organizational politics well, and help complicated projects move inside large companies.
• Believers care most about doing good work, staying true to the mission, and keeping attention on customers, code quality, and long-term maintenance.
• Coasters do enough to get the job done, avoid unnecessary work, keep teams calm, and leave room for last-minute requests.
• Grinders stay busy, take on whatever needs doing, and are useful when work needs to move fast, but they can burn out and are harder to sustain as a long-term mode.
• The article’s summary is that grifters need to work with believers, believers need to choose companies carefully, grinders need to work with coasters, and coasters should understand the pressure grinders create.