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Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

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Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#141

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

wtracy wrote: post #107
jacobsenscott wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 20 years ago I was a newly minted CS grad and a new software engineer. I told someone a lot older than me what I do and she said "Oh, that's a great start!". Which threw me because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do next. That's what I wanted to do. Today I am a "programmer", because I realized software isn't really engineering. That's still what I want to be doing today, and I still don't know what she th…

Several people who dislike the term "software engineer" have started using "software craftsman" instead.

I am aware of a few people in my social-circle who put "Software artisan" or "Purveyor of artisanal technology experiences" (etc) on their LinkedIn profile - so I believe you.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#142

Post by Aeolun »

throwaway33222 wrote: post #127
shadowgovt wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The missing piece of the puzzle is that we never meet the idiot manager in the story. She's in an organizational situation where her team has oversight over a team in the government implementing on a project but does not have the ability to directly set policy, constrain goals, or otherwise apply direct managerial leverage. The idiot in the story is the guy charging full speed ahead with a deployment of a product tha…

>The missing piece of the puzzle >the software was compromised by domestic terrorists and the threat was real The missing piece to me is that she says, specifically, that it was under attack by white supremacists. If you know anything about WS types, they are profoundly anti-intellectual. Anyone who has the technical chops to compromise software would almost certainly be labeled a secret jew/antifa/etc. Frankly I fin…

We have literal 17 year olds hacking the twitter account of Obama and a ton of other high profile people.

How can you possibly believe that a bunch of white supremacists are not a threat? You need only one marginally competent one to wreck your entire platform.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#143

Post by Aeolun »

jmmcd wrote: post #25
supernova87a wrote: post #17

Sorry, the story totally lost me after she was describing the interaction with the FBI. I did not easily take away some conclusion about what she had done wrong or what deep pile of shit she had just created for herself, or what on 2 paths she had just chosen incorrectly, or daringly? (The paragraph ending, "I trusted the FBI to be good at their jobs." The next paragraph jumps right to generalizations, and I didn't c…

I know what you mean, but no. It wasn't that she had done something wrong, it was just amazing (to her manager) that she had done something so (apparently) brave as reaching out to the FBI. The point of the essay is -- some people are brave in this way, and some aren't. I'm not sure if it's a good essay, but what I loved was the way she described connecting people as "just" doing her job. She didn't see it as brave.…

If you make connecting the right people your job, regardless of title, you are doing things well.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#144

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

sukilot wrote: post #117
austhrow743 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d put money on this lady coming from a privileged background. Story was a person who works recreationally being disgusted by having to interact with all the filthy proles who need to put food on the table.

Not necessarily. She was a talented, young, attractive, single person who was in the adventure phase of her career, hopping from job to job around the world with no expenses of note, working in government with older staid stable people.

> “ adventure phase of her career”

what are you talking about? I’ve had to prioritize money over meaningful work since my early twenties due to complex and upsetting elder care issue. Adventure phase? Get real. If your life contains an adventure phase please stop and acknowledge you are in some overwhelmingly small group of extreme privilege.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#145

Post by Aeolun »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #57
RustyRussell wrote: post #22

This hit home: I worked over a decade at IBM. > When you are in a work situation where you are respected and admired, that is often its own reward. If you don’t have that, the components of your job that give you a sense of value and satisfaction are all connected directly to the career ladder. What is your title? What is the prestige value of your projects? My current official job title is "Code Contributor". I was…

About 20 years ago I was a newly minted CS grad and a new software engineer. I told someone a lot older than me what I do and she said "Oh, that's a great start!". Which threw me because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do next. That's what I wanted to do. Today I am a "programmer", because I realized software isn't really engineering. That's still what I want to be doing today, and I still don't know what she th…

Deal with enough incompetent management, and you might really want to become one to save others from the same.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#146

Post by rubber_duck »

vlovich123 wrote: post #123
keenmaster wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think she's saying that it's odd to her, as someone who innately enjoys doing highly consequential work, that other people don't share in her enthusiasm. Similarly, coworkers must find it odd that she doesn't actively dodge such work or deal with it in a robotic, CYA manner, devoid of enthusiasm. Her realization about them and their realization about her are asymmetric in consequence. Even if she judges them it won…

I don't find anything unique here that I don't see at big companies, it's just handled more deftly.

Difference is big corps sometimes get reorganized or their cash cow falls on hard times and they need to optimise or perish. They don't succeed often but the incentives are usually profit driven - politics are a luxury that big corps can afford to absorb because they are usually entrenched in some position and can afford to accumulate inefficiency.

Government on the other hand is always political as their output isn't valued in market terms but in political points.

So yeah - from my experience - big corps (especially those working with government) can be political, bureaucratic, etc. But it's standard operating procedure in government work.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#147

Post by rrobukef »

shadowgovt wrote: post #116
phkahler wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...the team she just called federal law enforcement on. That's interesting, I didn't see it as reporting the other team to law enforcement. The law breaking was anticipated to be done by people outside government. The whole raise your right hand thing seemed weird (perhaps a formality) unless you think she was implicating specific people. In that case it makes more sense.

It's not precisely that she called law enforcement on them, poor choice of words on my part. It's more that, if you will, she turned the "eye of Sauron" on the project. If the team she had oversight on thought they were going to meet deadlines with open security holes, having the FBI actively looking at what they're doing pretty much torpedoes that hope.

It seems like the team wanted it torpedoed as well. Every higher up was aware but tied in bureaucracy. The team basically washed their hands and tried to deliver in order to pass the buck. Messing with things codified in federal law seems like a very poor career choice.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#148

Post by mcherm »

IOT_Apprentice wrote: post #59
vezycash wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And who is the idiot? Short summary: Woznaik vs Jobs. The technical guy vs. the smooth talker. Longer summary: Some people are perpetual resume builders. They want quick promotion, bigger job titles, higher salary... The ladder growth is their reward. And they'll avoid anything that jeopardizes their career path. They'll grab the glory for good stuff and push the blame for bad stuff. The hacker, risk taker on the ot…

I don't get that at all. Woz vs Jobs is not an apt analogy at all. Jobs was never risk averse. He saw what could be done and how to make money off of it. Apple is a Trillion dollar company as a result and Woz is a billionaire.

> as a result and Woz is a billionaire

No.[1]

Woz gave away much of his stock in Apple, more than half of it before Apple even went public.

[1] https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/steve-...

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#149

Post by ethbro »

rubber_duck wrote: post #146
vlovich123 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find anything unique here that I don't see at big companies, it's just handled more deftly.

Difference is big corps sometimes get reorganized or their cash cow falls on hard times and they need to optimise or perish. They don't succeed often but the incentives are usually profit driven - politics are a luxury that big corps can afford to absorb because they are usually entrenched in some position and can afford to accumulate inefficiency. Government on the other hand is always political as their output isn'…

It's definitely a continuum depending on industry.

In more monopolistic areas (insurance, banking), my experience has been closer to government. In more cutthroat areas (tech, retail), it's been on the other end of spectrum.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#150

Post by theduder99 »

mesozoic wrote: post #66

Why do people still use the term white supremacists to imply some nefarious group? The term has lost all value and is now used in mainstream best selling books and media to describe every white person. It literally now has no meaning and whenever anyone uses it I just think they're hunting the boogey man.

white supremecists is another strawman used by the left. they made the term 'racist' lose all meaning after applying it to so many situations and the same thing is playing out with 'white supremecists' now.
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