The ones you have to watch out for are those who takes credit for your work. This type is annoying but mostly harmless.

When I was in grad school we studied a guy named Bruno Latour.

Latour argued that scientists were primarily engaged in a capitalistic type of game- that involves hoarding citations and exploiting graduate assistants and post docs.

Perhaps- "Science" is merely a pretext to engage in this type of douchy behaviour.

This analysis seems true to me for all academic disciplines.

Ruthless and tasteless self promotion seems to be the norm.

Weirdly, business (which is officially supposed to be douchy) actually seems to me to be much more of a meritocracy.

My sister does this on social media at what seems every opportunity. Cringe city. I feel embarrassed for her more so than annoyed, but it is fucking annoying. Front door brags, validation seeking, all comes from insecurity so I try to temper my emotional response when I see it so I don’t harbor bad feelings about it. Mostly I just stay away from Facebook where that kind of posting occurs.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

That's not been my experience. Although to be fair I only briefly was involved in the high power scientific world. My PhD advisor was great at being a mentor and giving credit where credit was due. I mean he never got his hands dirty in the lab but he was involved in writing manuscripts or at least editing them, and he wrote the grants that paid for everything.

That may be some of it. I know he is conscious of if not somewhat embarrassed by his humble rural upbringing. I don't harbor any bad feelings to most anyone, it just seems like cringey behavior.

i often see 'i'm so humbled (or blessed or grateful)' from people who are uber keen to talk up an achievement but think that phrase disguises the validation-seeking.

i like hearing about achievements (if it's not every week). Ditch the humblewash though.

I mean, flip a coin to see if your corporate manager is like this. I would say it's pretty typical in the corporate working world.

Take credit for things they didn't or couldn't do due to either ability or even not in their role, always loudest to self congratulate, first to sacrifice headcount to overtime/holidays/weekends and the last to be there to do it, always licking the boots or taint of their superiors.

I mean, pretty typical working world stuff.

It's a lot better where I am now, maybe a dice roll instead of a coin flip.

To be clear I'm not saying this person isn't entirely responsible for and deserving of his awards and accomplishments, it's just weird to me to brag about them on social media.

I value understatement and genuine humility in my academic circles. I've tried to live that way myself, and have been rewarded beyond what I deserve. But, I am also a creature of an earlier generation... my younger colleagues are all more gifted at self promotion than me, thankfully in ways that stop well short of their being jerks. I think for young academics, this is part of the skill set that the modern world requires.

I post my new papers on my FB when they get published. I'm friends w a bunch of work colleagues and the reality is it's important to my career to get the work out there. Posting our papers is fairly common in my colleague FB friend group. I do not, however, usually start with "I'm so humbled." I usually go with "I'm excited to announce..."

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

This thread reminds me of the time I posted on FB about single-handedly eating an ENTIRE Costco container of blue cheese. I posted here, too, to maximize adoration. It was awesome. I was so humbled about myself. I had worked on that tub of cheese for 5 or 6 months. I was just diligent, you know?

For personal accomplishments, I say brag it up! Kudos to you!!

Exactly, there's a way to do it where it doesn't look like you're in danger of hurting yourself trying to pat yourself on the back.

We are humbled to be in your presence.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

 

I’m thinking of organizing a humble parade which, in my humble opinion, is long overdue. Humility is so under-appreciated!

Count me in.

I would join, but as a Canadian I am not sure I can. After all, we are too good for that ;)

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

I had a former direct boss who did both and I left over the issue. I would present operational proposals relating to improving efficiencies, reducing costs, or often both, and within 24 hours he was referring to them as his proposal he’d presented to head office - even in one on one situations. Strangely enough, he was very likeable and gregarious, but an absolute stranger to integrity.

The reason I say this is he also self-promoted shamelessly. This past fortnight there was a spate of articles in the local newspaper and his company’s website/LinkedIn congratulating an “award” this gentleman had received. The “award” was completing a paid course and being “awarded” the course completion certificate. The course is generally viewed as a cynical add-on to biannual training requirements, and not recognised in this part of the world. But to an outsider, this course completion certificate has been dressed up to seem like a prestigious accolade bestowed upon this former colleague, whereas those of us in the industry are utterly bemused by it. In some ways, I admire the bare faced brazenness of it.