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In my case, I CAN do their job. They have a lot of support structures to delegate between. You may think you can't do their job, but you could, if you wanted -

In my case, I CAN do their job. They have a lot of support structures to delegate between. You may think you can't do their job, but you could, if you wanted - though getting there is a game of thrones of sorts, and you may not wish to play. However, they can't do your job. Assuming you are a developer, they are making a living based on your work. Your work has equal value. Well, if you ARE doing hard work. If you are just sitting at a terminal, more ambition might be a good thing :) Cultivate it and you can get there. If you want. We need not assume all leadership at the top is steering the entire ship, more so than steering parts of things, decisions trickling up as well as down, alongside information.

softawre 10y ago
I think this is a bit naive. You seem like the software engineer type that thinks the company revolves around you, that both middle-managers and upper management are clueless, and you could do anybody elses job if you just put a weekend into studying it. Getting a MBA, getting experience leading companies from the director level, then VP level, then CEO - that is valuable experience.
- WallowC_33 10y ago
  Should probably read the posters profile
- mpdehaan2 10y ago
  Again, see profile :)
dsacco 10y ago
>>In my case, I CAN do their job. Your overall point is diminished when you say things like this, because it comes across as arrogant. Without substantiating that, you're just pandering to everyone who holds the same ideology on CEO pay. The way you describe it, technical jobs are the hardest in the world, and everything else is comparatively easy. You make it sound as though there is only one truly difficult discipline, which happens to be yours. Furthermore, you're lumping the job duties of all CEOs together as though they all share a homogenous skill set you could pick up. I'm unconvinced by an ethos that boils down to, "My work is hard because it's programming, their work is not because it's soft skills."
- mpdehaan2 10y ago
  Missing lots of context. (A) See profile. These are a lot of skills I HAVE picked up (B) I'm pretty non-technical these days. (C) when I'm suggesting hard work is hard work, I include everyone putting in hard effort - not just developers, but I do lean heavily in endorsing those who build the product. I'm not saying I can run Goldman Sachs. I can run a few software companies a lot better than they are being run. What I'm saying here is that CEOs are mortal. The more you know the more you know this. If you're just starting out you may not realize this, but as you start to experience various executives and know the decisions they make, and what the people under them do, with the experience over time - you just see the value that people should be valued more equally and the system should be fixed. To do this, we need the support of everyone in at least knowing the system is broken, not the defense of the broken system. I am not a programmer these days. Hard work is hard work, and is mostly measured by the stress it inflicts on you. With practice, things get easier. But all people have value.
- jimbokun 10y ago
  I think, though, Ycombinator is premised on the idea technical people can learn a CEO's job much easier than vice versa. I'm pretty sure he says something very close to that in one of his essays. (Business being relatively easy to learn for a talented technical person.)
  - sidlls 10y ago
    Yes, and that premise is controversial at best.
    - jimbokun 10y ago
      True, but the YC success stories offer some anecdotal support for the idea.
    - arvinsim 10y ago
      That's the least that I expect. The implication that technical people can learn to hold a CEO position and do well is very anti-status quo.
spullara 10y ago
This is a really, really naive thing to say - bordering on completely delusional. The CEO job is so much harder than you think it is. As a VC I see a huge number of amazing engineers and very few amazing CEOs. They are incredibly hard to find and can change the outcome of a company from a complete failure to a wild success. You MAY be able to do their job but in my experience very few can do it competently.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  So why do they all get paid gangbusters?
- mpdehaan2 10y ago
  Don't appreciate being called delusional. That being said, you underscore the point that many CEOs are not great -- which is exactly the point about overcompensation. Also, see my profile. It's not wrong to tell everyone they may have the skills to match their current mediocre CEO that is pulling down the megabucks today. And believe me, a lot of mediocre CEOs are pulling down megabucks. Being you are in the VC game, you are dealing with people in startups, where the compensation hasn't gone crazy away from things yet. Finally, some of these views may be seen as socialistic. It matters what you value. In general, I have seen a lot of VC decisions that value capital ahead of ethics, and this is unfortunate.

softawre 10y ago

I think this is a bit naive. You seem like the software engineer type that thinks the company revolves around you, that both middle-managers and upper management are clueless, and you could do anybody elses job if you just put a weekend into studying it. Getting a MBA, getting experience leading companies from the director level, then VP level, then CEO - that is valuable experience.

WallowC_33 10y ago
Should probably read the posters profile
mpdehaan2 10y ago
Again, see profile :)

dsacco 10y ago

>>In my case, I CAN do their job. Your overall point is diminished when you say things like this, because it comes across as arrogant. Without substantiating that, you're just pandering to everyone who holds the same ideology on CEO pay. The way you describe it, technical jobs are the hardest in the world, and everything else is comparatively easy. You make it sound as though there is only one truly difficult discipline, which happens to be yours. Furthermore, you're lumping the job duties of all CEOs together as though they all share a homogenous skill set you could pick up. I'm unconvinced by an ethos that boils down to, "My work is hard because it's programming, their work is not because it's soft skills."

mpdehaan2 10y ago
Missing lots of context. (A) See profile. These are a lot of skills I HAVE picked up (B) I'm pretty non-technical these days. (C) when I'm suggesting hard work is hard work, I include everyone putting in hard effort - not just developers, but I do lean heavily in endorsing those who build the product. I'm not saying I can run Goldman Sachs. I can run a few software companies a lot better than they are being run. What I'm saying here is that CEOs are mortal. The more you know the more you know this. If you're just starting out you may not realize this, but as you start to experience various executives and know the decisions they make, and what the people under them do, with the experience over time - you just see the value that people should be valued more equally and the system should be fixed. To do this, we need the support of everyone in at least knowing the system is broken, not the defense of the broken system. I am not a programmer these days. Hard work is hard work, and is mostly measured by the stress it inflicts on you. With practice, things get easier. But all people have value.
jimbokun 10y ago
I think, though, Ycombinator is premised on the idea technical people can learn a CEO's job much easier than vice versa. I'm pretty sure he says something very close to that in one of his essays. (Business being relatively easy to learn for a talented technical person.)
- sidlls 10y ago
  Yes, and that premise is controversial at best.
  - jimbokun 10y ago
    True, but the YC success stories offer some anecdotal support for the idea.
  - arvinsim 10y ago
    That's the least that I expect. The implication that technical people can learn to hold a CEO position and do well is very anti-status quo.

spullara 10y ago

This is a really, really naive thing to say - bordering on completely delusional. The CEO job is so much harder than you think it is. As a VC I see a huge number of amazing engineers and very few amazing CEOs. They are incredibly hard to find and can change the outcome of a company from a complete failure to a wild success. You MAY be able to do their job but in my experience very few can do it competently.

st3v3r 10y ago
So why do they all get paid gangbusters?
mpdehaan2 10y ago
Don't appreciate being called delusional. That being said, you underscore the point that many CEOs are not great -- which is exactly the point about overcompensation. Also, see my profile. It's not wrong to tell everyone they may have the skills to match their current mediocre CEO that is pulling down the megabucks today. And believe me, a lot of mediocre CEOs are pulling down megabucks. Being you are in the VC game, you are dealing with people in startups, where the compensation hasn't gone crazy away from things yet. Finally, some of these views may be seen as socialistic. It matters what you value. In general, I have seen a lot of VC decisions that value capital ahead of ethics, and this is unfortunate.