Grifters, believers, grinders, and coasters

Article: https://www.seangoedecke.com/programmer-archetypes/ by Sean Goedecke.

Notes

• Author introduces two axes: Coaster to Grinder and Grifter to Believer.

• Extreme examples for the combinations:

  • Coaster and Grifter: “Whatever you say, boss”.

  • Coaster and Believer: “Makes ‘day in the life’ TikToks”.

  • Grinder and Grifter: “Spends all day managing up”.

  • Grinder and Believer: “Ten PRs a day, every day”.

• Coaster work enough to get the job done, but no more. The work output is of good quality, otherwise they would be managed out.

• Grinders lock in the mechanics of work and miss the big picture.

• Grifters (I had to look up what it means) adapt and blend in. “Despite the name, grifters are not frauds” [maybe you shouldn’t have called them grifters, Sean?]. They know how to play the politics game, and match their manager’s expectations.

• Believers work according to their internal values (that need to match with the company). Like grinders, they are locked in their vision and struggle with organizational pivots.

Conclusion

The axes seem to be orthogonal, and the extremes are opposite. But the names aren’t great. I can’t see someone telling their manager that they identify themselves as a coaster. Also, the point of origin is dynamic. There are many levels to productivity. From 0.1x to 1x to 10x engineers. Thinking about these aspects is more helpful when comparing two people in the same environment. Or same person over time. One thing, that author touched but didn’t explore deep enough is progression of the person along these axes while working in the same company and throughout the lifetime. One can imagine a believer who “learns the ropes” and becomes a grifter. Or a grinder who burns out and becomes a coaster.