Yes, that’s how I view things. And yes, I believe you have a stronger sense of empathy than you may realize.

So your basically saying, what I’ve considered an alternate having empathy, which i think I’m intrinsically incapable of, is actually empathy, even though its based on a purely intellectual pursuit of having enough domain knowledge to actually assist in troubleshooting, or at least make a case that “its really the database/network/server”?

See I’ve always seen empathy as a pure emotional Dale Carnegie kinda thing.

I see your point but I’d suggest that by recognizing what you need to do in order to work better with those other teams is exactly the type of empathy I am advocating above. You are making yourself available, talking with others, and understanding what it is they need most from you. That’s being involved, too. Those qualities are going to get you further in life than just being “the jerk who pretends to know everything”, which is often many of us in IT are perceived.

Because of this I can earn the respect of members of these teams and speak their languages. I use my technical aptitude to overcome the fact that I’ll just never have a lot of empathy. Like Plato advised, I know myself.