---
title: "They Are Really Smart, But..."
url: https://daily.dev/posts/they-are-really-smart-but--juqnite8r
source_url: https://marcgg.com/blog/2025/10/14/smart-but/
type: article
source: "Marc G Gauthier"
published: 2026-03-26T08:35:35.210Z
updated: 2026-03-26T08:40:19.972Z
tags: ["leadership", "company-culture"]
reading_time: 3
upvotes: 0
comments: 0
language: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# They Are Really Smart, But...

**[Marc G Gauthier](https://daily.dev/sources/marcgg)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Explores the common pattern of 'brilliant jerk' engineers who are technically skilled but bring negative value to teams through poor collaboration, abrasive behavior, and refusal to follow team norms. Argues that raw intelligence is overrated compared to the ability to work well with others, and that managers must both acknowledge valid criticism from such individuals while helping them adjust their approach to become genuine force multipliers.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://marcgg.com/blog/2025/10/14/smart-but/>

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [Just people in a room](https://daily.dev/posts/just-people-in-a-room-jdpsjmyfq) · Tech Lead Digest · 3 upvotes · 0 comments
- [Medium](https://daily.dev/posts/medium-xbnrnh9la) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership), [#company-culture](https://daily.dev/tags/company-culture)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/they-are-really-smart-but--juqnite8r)