Team

The dynamics of being an individual contributor in the project and being a team player are quite different from each other. This difference is what separates working on academic projects, from being part of a company project involving at least 10 people in a team. It can be a rewarding or a frustrating experience, depending on what you enjoy more. If you are the kind of person, who "gels" well with people generally, there are good chances you would fit well in a team. On the other hand, if you are the "my way or highway" kind of person, working in a team project can be sometimes difficult. In a discussion meeting, you have to listen (or pretend to listen) to views from everyone in the team, nod at the right places, taking care that no one gets offended, and still somehow find a way to do what you already decided before the meeting commenced anyway. It is funny to watch people giving their valuable inputs in the meeting without knowing much about the topic of discussion (I do it myself sometimes, just to avoid being caught about either lack of knowledge or interest in the discussion).

People are very different from computers, and can sometimes be quite impossible. It isn't strange to see some very talented engineers in software industry leave the company because they are not happy with the "environment" of the company, despite being paid good salary. This environment is the team/manager/colleagues they work with. Such engineers may be very good technically, but fail to (or are unwilling to) master the art of dealing with other people, who don't always subscribe to their way of thinking.
Computers are logical, they work on a well defined pattern. An instruction entered will always work the same way, unlike humans whose reactions to praise/criticism/indifference is highly dependent on their mood, beliefs and cultural background. Debugging computer programs can be great fun because it will always improve the quality of your program, but with people this process may deteriorate the quality of your relationships.
I am not saying such complexity in human response patterns makes computers easier to work with, far from it. It is just that these two pose different challenges and require different skills to deal with them.

On to some other topic, hmm... I was discussing with my friend about the "feedback for improvement" concept the other day, and how should one give/receive it.

A 100% straightforward person can be analogous to the computer in terms of the feedback he gives you on your performance, it may be positive/negative, even right/wrong, but it will be what he "really" believes.

BTW, it is neither easy nor advisable to be so straightforward when your feedback is asked for.

I have been a victim of such temptations while giving feedback, and faced situations where I found myself deriving pleasure from giving negative feedback, in proving the other person wrong. Praising myself for saying what I felt, irrespective of its effect on him. Well, this is not being honest, it is being mean, and without loss of generality I can say such behaviour originates from being not-so-honest while  my own mistakes are being analysed.

IMO, while giving someone any feedback, we should take care of 3 things:

1. The feedback should be honest and correct.
2. We should detach our own feelings from the process, and most importantly,
3. The feedback should be helpful to the person in his improvement.

Often, we, in order to give honest feedback, and in desire to be straightforward, can be brutal. It does not help, I think. Our purpose should never be to prove how right we are and how wrong he is, but only what we think is needed to improve the other person. Sometimes, sugar-coating is required, by all means do it. Being brutally honest about his mistakes or shortcomings may be highly satisfying for me, but it does not serve any real purpose. The feedback is meant to help him, not my ego. I must admit, this is a lesson I am still learning. I think the chance to criticise someone else is too attractive to let go in the name of being logically correct..hihihihi..

Enough for now... have to go to Gym.