Good insights, and not just software developers, really. We don’t like ads, sensationalism, or anything reeking of bullshit. If we have to talk to someone to find out the price, the product may as well not exist.
This… strikes me more as self-aggrandizing than informative.
Yes, many technical folks are put off by certain marketing tricks. Good marketers just use different techniques when targeting people in this market, when they bother to at all.
We’re not immune to manipulation; and thinking that we are makes us more susceptible to it.
rafoix@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Has anyone been to any kind of convention for nerdy things. Nerds are so captured by the marketing and products being sold that they let it take over their personality and they can’t stop buying junk.
cygnus@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Yeah, this is self-aggrandizement from a group of people who consistently believe they’re smarter and more self-aware than everybody else, when in reality they just lack self-awareness. Nerds will smugly post in this thread as a wall of funk pops and Star Wars slop looms behind them.
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Pretty much, yeah.
The article points out how a bunch of specific techniques don’t work on programmers. That’s because they’re aimed at project managers, not programmers. And yeah, they work. No programmer willingly chose Jira for their ticketing system, but project managers love that shit.
All it really means is that it takes a different set of marketing techniques to reach programmers. They generally don’t bother, because programmers don’t typically control the budget directly.
lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
I believe that thinking you’re immune to something makes you even more vulnerable, because it creates a cognitive blind spot. If you think you can’t make mistakes, you don’t stop to wonder if you are making one.
FearfulSalad@ttrpg.network 2 weeks ago
You just described Geeks. Geek and Nerd group labels can sometimes apply to the same people, but they are not synonymous, and a person can be one without the other.
ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I disagree, I don’t fall into the category you stated. My walls are lined with 80s memorabilia and 3d printed things I have created. I reject anything advertised to me and will only purchase tech that I have sought out that meets my needs.
JoMiran@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
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CriticalMiss@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t have a single funko pop or Star Wars toy or whatever. I have a Keychron keyboard that cost me $70, while it is more costly than the average membrane I like mechanical ones. I never buy new if I can (usually this is a time constraint, I.e I broke my phone and I need to replace it quick one because my job relies it). I Adblock everywhere I possibly can to not see the ads but I genuinely believe I’m immune to advertising.
chocrates@piefed.world 2 weeks ago
I got a curved, split, tented ortholinear monstrosity with a built in trackball and I'm finally done. I get that it's stupid and a waste of money but my hands feel so good typing all day on it
biotin7@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Then they ain’t nerds, sorry.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
They’re not nerds. They’re posers.
mybuttnolie@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
I saw people recommending keychrons, went and bought one thinking I made a smart choice. didn’t even google what kind of issues they have… I’ll remember next time I’m about to throw money at some random crap that a few people recommend.
very_well_lost@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Right? I’ve seen the walls of Funko Pops… nerds definitely are not immune to marketing.
Peffse@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
do people actually buy those? I honestly thought they were some kind of money laundering thing. I’ve never once saw one sell.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
They aren’t fucking nerds then. Nerds don’t buy Funko Pops.
I can name 3 or 4 people who own walls of Funko pops and I can tell you they wouldn’t know an IDE from MS Word. None of them went to college either.
They’re posers.
gdog05@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Is that marketing or is it just finding stuff they want to own?
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
It’s marketing making them think they want to own that stuff.
cygnus@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
How do you think you “found” it? A whole supply chain of people, from branding to packaging to advertising, made it so that you can “find” things on websites that are themselves outright advertisements or at least funded by them.
grte@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
It’s marketing.
rafoix@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Marketing. It is very effective.
Arcka@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Someone makes a good product and then sells it in a store. Even if they do nothing else and buy no ads, a marketing wank somewhere would apparently want to take credit for the maker’s work.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Posers. All of them.
Nerds enjoy a hobby, like tabletop games.
Posers buy Funkos and toys that they never open.
Nerds have fun. Posers try to look like they do.
turkalino@lemmy.yachts 2 weeks ago
Yeah but I don’t think that’s marketing, if you’re going to a con for something, you’re likely very passionate about it and passionate people love to scoop up everything they can that relates to their beloved hobby or franchise.
Also, nerds tend to have a good amount of disposable income on that stuff
jawa21@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
The cons themselves are marketing. Heavy marketing. If you can't see that, I don't know what to say. Vendors (and even artists for crying out loud) are willing to pay top dollar for booths to sell stuff. On the surface, they are their namesake - conventions. Dig any deeper, and they are giant pop-up malls.
Comrade_Squid@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I would call my brother a geek, a collector of shit, expensive cards, moulded plastics, I love him for it but I see it as vapid. Whereas I am a nerd, I research and act with caution when it comes to spending, I own a mechanical watch which I can repair myself, I buy leather shoes with soles that can be replaced at a cobblers, run Linux on my desktop, custom ROM on my phone.
Geeks are nerds who enjoy gimmicky things, nerds are geeks seeking purpose.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nerds in arrested development over a franchize is not the same as seeing any ad and then that makes them want to buy a product.