No, your technical skills are not an excuse for your poor social skills
The other day, I had a pretty bad review from a very good developer. The point was completely valid, the message ended with an insensitive bit about the quality of my work. I fought back, reviews are not the place for personal attacks. The answer I got was a technical breakdown of the thing I had already agreed to begin with. No apology, no intention on stopping this behavior, nothing to indicate that they understood the problem I had with their message.
I think as devs, a lot of us have been here. Some people are even notorious for being assholes, justify it as a philosophical stance, and then walk back on it once they understand that nobody wants to work with them anymore. Excellent programmer, yes. Absolute garbage of a human being too.
But it doesn't have to be an open source rockstar, it can be someone much closer to you. A coworker with much more experience can take that experience as an excuse to berate developers who have been there less longer than them, and justify it with "I like arguing" when confronted to their bullshit. And others will agree with you, with the classic "he does this with everyone", "it's all wrapper bullshit", "he sucks at social". But then they will tell you that "his point is good", "there's nothing we can do about it", "hang in there high five while sinking". And HR? Yeah, no, HR are not your friends, don't trust them to take your mental health with more priority than the employee who built their entire money stack, despite the very regular complaints.
Maybe you're one of those developers. You think tough love is good love, because you love the project, and you need to be "strict" with people contributing to it. Maybe you have no social life, and you're fine with that. Maybe you just don't care. And your apathy has transformed into an inaptitude to communicate without thinking about consequences.
What can we do about it? Fight back. Not be silent. Not accept the terms and conditions of working with horrible people. You might say "well then, work somewhere else". I reply: no, I will not be bullied by an individual who made their problems systemic. I will not close my eyes to rampant abuse of authority under the guise of excellency.
No, your technical skills are not an excuse for your poor social skills.
"Perseus wore a magic cap down over his eyes and ears as a make-believe that there are no monsters." - Karl Marx