Hi, I'm Rob. I spend a lot of time building systems, solving complex problems, and occasionally forgetting that people are not containers that respond to kubectl apply.
This is my semi-sarcastic, slightly painful, and reasonably accurate self-audit of how my emotional intelligence functions in the wild — especially when my intentions don’t quite match how I’m perceived.
| Trait | Internal Reality (Me, in my head) | External Risk (You, experiencing me) |
|---|---|---|
| Self-awareness | Constant introspection. I see all my flaws. | I forget to say it out loud, so I just seem intense. |
| Self-regulation | Working on it. I write scripts instead of screaming. | I still sound like I’m yelling in JSON. |
| Motivation | Fueled by curiosity, caffeine, and dread. | Others may experience this as pressure to “keep up.” |
| Empathy | I understand feelings. I just... don’t show them well. | Can come across as blunt, cold, or fixing you mid-sentence. |
| Social skills | I can be charming. But mostly with routers. | If you’re not matching tempo, I may bulldoze by accident. |
- I mean well. I think fast. I care deeply.
- But I often communicate like a human
linter. - People who know me well: 🧡
- People who don’t: 🧐
This analysis is based on repeated introspection, unfiltered logging (with emojis), and years of building things faster than I explain them.
"Your urgency can feel like criticism, even when it’s not meant that way."
— Probably someone I bulldozed in a meeting, lovingly
Emotional intelligence isn’t just about how smart you are about feelings.
It’s about how other people feel around you — even when you're right.
I'm working on it. If I ever steamrolled you in a brainstorm, I owe you lunch and probably a follow-up PR.
- Feedback (even when it hurts)
- Writing it down before saying it out loud
- Replacing tone with emojis (🚀,
⚠️ , ✅, 😬) - Learning to pause
- Remembering not everyone likes feedback at 500 WPM
Feel free to fork this repo if you're also high-EQ-on-paper but misunderstood IRL.
Together we can scaleUp(empathy) and throttle(impatience) — maybe even in production.