The following are difficult archetypes among software developers:

• The Diva
• The Idealist
• The Rock Star
• The Aspiring Manager
• The Hostage Taker
• The Bull in the China Shop
• The Incompetent
• The Extreme Underestimator
• The Extreme Overestimator
• The Soldier
• The Technology Enamored
• The Legacy Maintainer

Revered or reviled, Software Developers are sought after like so much water in a desolate landscape of qualified talent. Without software developers, there would be no software development industry, a fact well know to them. This leads to a breathtaking sense of entitlement rarely seen in human history, resulting in quite a few colorful problem personalities.

A good software developer can be worth their weight in gold. Few professions can make that claim when it comes to the value of an individual contributor. Some of the richest people on the planet were former software developers, making being a software developer – in the right place at the right time – one of the easiest and direct paths to being among the wealthiest people on earth.

With this capability to create vast wealth, however, often comes a complete lack of respect for other members of the project who are not software developers. This lack of respect can be so profound as to create a firm belief in the software developer’s mind that they are not only the most valuable member of a the software project, but that they are indispensable to the company as a whole. Sadly, while only an infinitesimal number software developers go on to accrue anything even resembling wealth, many conduct themselves as if they are the next Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs; when that could not be farther than the truth. This result in problems personalities that are often as fascinating as they are frightening to behold.