Brilliance in one domain does not equal brilliance in all domains. Often the pride of a programmer regarding his or her work gets carried over into communication with people in other domains, who may be just as brilliant in their own sphere.
> who may be just as brilliant in their own sphere.
Or they may not be. And woo to you if you come in as an outsider of that domain and you start talking sense.
That's one surefire way of being branded 'arrogant'. I had a gf that worked in genetics and I spotted an error in a draft of a paper and she got really mad with me for thinking that I could make a contribution to her work that she had studied hard for.
Turned out I was right though, and that really pissed her off, in spite of the very diplomatic delivery.
