What it is like being the only engineer in a meeting [video]

Post by canadev » Wed, Apr 02, 2014, 5:00 AM UTC

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #20

Moving beyond the exaggeration of the sketch, the irony here is that being the only engineer in a business meeting puts you in an incredibly powerful position - if you see the opportunity and know how to take advantage of it. Learning to interact with non-technical stakeholders and finding ways to deliver solutions perceived as adding value to a business is one of the best ways to make real money in this industry. Fo…

Post by gfodor » Wed, Apr 02, 2014, 5:01 AM UTC

mbillie1 wrote: post #14

teemo_cute wrote: post #9

I think it's like being a man in an all-girls gathering. You can either be awkward or the center of attention. It depends on your perception and how you would present yourself.

> You can either be awkward or the center of attention. Or you could, say, not radically alter your behavior based on the genders of the people around you.

Post by gatehouse » Wed, Apr 02, 2014, 5:03 AM UTC

chavesn wrote: post #27

Some of the comments here claim this is just showing how engineers think they are the only smart ones, or how there's equal frustration pointed back at engineers. However, this is illustrating a particular problem that only[2] affects engineers -- engineers are the ones at the end of the day who have to make a solution reality. This particular weight doesn't fall on any other role. It's easy for anyone, including eng…

Post by vacri » Wed, Apr 02, 2014, 5:04 AM UTC

zorpner wrote: post #11

kabdib wrote: post #10

At one marketing-overrun startup, the suits were calling two hour meetings every afternoon and then wondering why I wasn't getting any work done. So I installed a cuckoo clock in that meeting room. The CEO loved it; he even helped wind it. I knew I'd succeeded when one of the marketing types looked at the clock and said, "I hate that thing." I don't remember if the meetings got any shorter or less frequent, but they…

Love it. A few years ago at a place I was helping out in, one of the devs had built a clock for the conference room that, at the start of a meeting, you punched the number of people in the meeting into. It knew the average company salary (this was a ~15 person software house) and would count up the "money spent" given the number of people in the room and the time on the clock. Very motivating.

Post by ehsanu1 » Wed, Apr 02, 2014, 5:05 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #26

zorpner wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love it. A few years ago at a place I was helping out in, one of the devs had built a clock for the conference room that, at the start of a meeting, you punched the number of people in the meeting into. It knew the average company salary (this was a ~15 person software house) and would count up the "money spent" given the number of people in the room and the time on the clock. Very motivating.

Someone I worked with at a previous job tried the average salary clock thing. I mentioned to him that if he really cared, he could just work late to make up for the loss. The clock didn't come to any more meetings.