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If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

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Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#21

Post by michaelochurch »

JonnieCache wrote: post #20
michaelochurch wrote: post #18

The hatred for "MBAs" has little to do with the degree itself. ======================== First, an aside. Paul Graham was wrong about something. He wrote "Why Nerds Are Unpopular" (still a great essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html ). He was mostly right: Being smart seems to make you unpopular. Ok. Reading on... Being smart doesn't make you an outcast in elementary school. Nor does it harm you in the real worl…

>Technology is our fucking turf, fuckers. Get off our territory or we will rape your shit for breakfast. Maybe this kind of phraseology is part of the reason you keep getting passed over for promotion.

I am using such "phraseology" because we are at war with the upper class whether we want to be or not. What we call the "technology industry" is one of the hottest battlefields out there. The well-connected/zero-sum evil (the current social elite) are taking on the hard-working-and-talented/positive-sum good and while we had no choice in starting the fight, it is in our territory and we must end it. This goes back to what your Dad probably told you about fistfights as a kid. "Never start a fight, but end one." On your terms.

Every time a great company (e.g. Google) becomes a closed-allocation nightmare festival with satanic innovations like calibration scores, that's another seaside city lost to the horde.

You may not be interested in war, but it is interested in you. -- Leon Trotsky

I am sick of watching our territory get taken by smiling assholes who have nothing to offer the world, and whom any properly masculine society would have done something about decades ago. I'm fucking disgusted and ready to fight. If that means I occasionally swear a blue streak, who fucking cares? The only thing that matters is defeating these assholes with such force that they never fuck with us again.

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#22

Post by JonnieCache »

michaelochurch wrote: post #21
JonnieCache wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Technology is our fucking turf, fuckers. Get off our territory or we will rape your shit for breakfast. Maybe this kind of phraseology is part of the reason you keep getting passed over for promotion.

I am using such "phraseology" because we are at war with the upper class whether we want to be or not. What we call the "technology industry" is one of the hottest battlefields out there. The well-connected/zero-sum evil (the current social elite) are taking on the hard-working-and-talented/positive-sum good and while we had no choice in starting the fight, it is in our territory and we must end it. This goes back to…

I honestly agree with you, at least with a lot of it. Can you think of any constructive ways forward, short of developing a striking new range of organic lamppost ornaments?

Maybe engineer-led companies could establish some kind of guild where they publicly pledge never to implement certain kinds of corrosive management practices. Good hackers could then just refuse to work for firms who aren't signed up, and firms could be ejected if they were seen to be breaking their promises.

The problem with schemes such as this is that the psychopaths will inevitably infiltrate it and use it as another way to exert control. I'm sure many people can suggest examples where this has happened before.

Perhaps this could be guarded against by making some kind of radical transparency part of the conditions?

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#23

Post by podperson »

michaelochurch wrote: post #18

The hatred for "MBAs" has little to do with the degree itself. ======================== First, an aside. Paul Graham was wrong about something. He wrote "Why Nerds Are Unpopular" (still a great essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html ). He was mostly right: Being smart seems to make you unpopular. Ok. Reading on... Being smart doesn't make you an outcast in elementary school. Nor does it harm you in the real worl…

While obviously I think you're intentionally overstating your case for rhetorical effect, it's worth mentioning that workplace "popularity" is not uncorelated with competence (it may not be strongly correlated, and there are always individual counter-examples) whereas highschool popularity was often negatively correlated with competence, or simply not correlated at all.

People might not like the nerd, but they do appreciate he or she knows his or her shit. And, the less dysfunctional the organization, the more likely this is to be reflected in salaries, etc.

So, fun read, and a good counterpoint to pg's essay.

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#25

Post by wheaties »

I hate to say it but what does anything an MBA teaches have to do with being a good leader? Leadership can't be taught, it has to be learned. Those business analysis skills are just that, business analysis. I think the largest problems revolving around the concept of getting an MBA is the sense that with it you should be in a leadership role.I'd love that knowledge but I would never make the assumption that having knowledge means I am entitled to having a management role.

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#26

Post by tbatterii »

reledi wrote: post #6

Says the guy with an MBA.

my thoughts exactly. the only folks who seem to value mbas are other mbas. i don't even think i can accept the defined success criteria outlined in the article (un-sustained long term growth) much less the premise that only mbas know how to achieve it.

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#27

Post by MisterBastahrd »

podperson wrote: post #23
michaelochurch wrote: post #18

The hatred for "MBAs" has little to do with the degree itself. ======================== First, an aside. Paul Graham was wrong about something. He wrote "Why Nerds Are Unpopular" (still a great essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html ). He was mostly right: Being smart seems to make you unpopular. Ok. Reading on... Being smart doesn't make you an outcast in elementary school. Nor does it harm you in the real worl…

While obviously I think you're intentionally overstating your case for rhetorical effect, it's worth mentioning that workplace "popularity" is not uncorelated with competence (it may not be strongly correlated, and there are always individual counter-examples) whereas highschool popularity was often negatively correlated with competence, or simply not correlated at all. People might not like the nerd, but they do app…

High school popularity is usually correlated with social competence, which is a very valuable and underrated skill on its own. Given two people with somewhat similar technical skills, the guy with the ability to mingle outside his comfort zone is usually going to win out over the guy who just wants to work.

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#28

Post by MisterBastahrd »

tbatterii wrote: post #26
reledi wrote: post #6

Says the guy with an MBA.

my thoughts exactly. the only folks who seem to value mbas are other mbas. i don't even think i can accept the defined success criteria outlined in the article (un-sustained long term growth) much less the premise that only mbas know how to achieve it.

Didn't some guy just kill himself a while back because he didn't have the training to so much as read a balance sheet and ran his company into the ground? While MBAs may not be the best entrepreneurs, they are more valuable in keeping large, mature organizations up and running than Joe Nerd and his series of weekend projects. Hell, that's the very purpose of an MBA.

Re: If MBAs are useless, we’re all in big trouble

#29

Post by bsbechtel »

wheaties wrote: post #25

I hate to say it but what does anything an MBA teaches have to do with being a good leader? Leadership can't be taught, it has to be learned. Those business analysis skills are just that, business analysis. I think the largest problems revolving around the concept of getting an MBA is the sense that with it you should be in a leadership role.I'd love that knowledge but I would never make the assumption that having kn…

"You also need to secure scarce resources, develop cohesive teams, assemble collaborative networks and build lasting customer relationships."

The author assumes if you have an MBA, you are qualified to do these things. That couldn't be further from the truth.

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