3 ms·

You need to explain that for it to make any sense.

patio11 16y ago
If you call yourself a programmer, sell yourself to management as a programmer, and go about getting jobs by applying for the ones that say programmer in the title, you are boxing yourself in to a career role as a lumpen resource (literally, they will call you a "resource") and cost center, which the MBAs are going to do their level best to either eliminate or replace with a substitutable resource at a quarter of the price. That resource might be a younger resource, or it might be a resource with an accent, but either way they'll check your department's resource box. Instead, you want -- particularly as a consultant -- to be the guy giving measurable, predictable, huge impacts either to costs or, ideally, to driving revenue. If you cannot quantify your worth to the company, it will be quantified for you, and the default guess is going to be -1.5 * $YOUR_SALARY. If you can quantify the value of your work for the company -- by being the guy who makes them money using his bag of magic tricks that management frankly does not understand and does not give a shit about -- your market value will be far, far higher, whether you choose to take it in terms of dollars, flexibility, working conditions, or what have you.
- alextgordon 16y ago
  If you accept a job that requires such mindless bullshit, then you're going to get constant mindless bullshit in return, no matter what kind of pretense you cook up. The only winning move is not to play.
  - dasil003 16y ago
    Gotta disagree on this one. This is all about the higher-ups' opinion of you. In most businesses technology is not a competitive advantage, and the brass doesn't understand how it could be; they just use industry-standard templates for applying technology. If you come in as someone whose job it is purely to implement such a template then you are simply a replaceable cog, no different than the 20 bookkeepers that the new accounting system replaced. On the other hand, if you come in able to really talk about the business and offer solutions at the level of upper management, then your value will be much more obvious to the people who matter.
- didip 16y ago
  If one happen to stumble upon such management, how should one introduce himself? Senior Software Engineer, Senior Software Architect, or others?
  - steauengeglase 16y ago
    A friend of mine said it best. If you see something really interesting (concerning software) and you have the immediate desire to share it with someone else but there is no one around who will understand it, it is time to add Architect to your resume.
- pw 16y ago
  c.f. PG: "To get rich you need to get yourself in a situation with two things, measurement and leverage."

If you call yourself a programmer, sell yourself to management as a programmer, and go about getting jobs by applying for the ones that say programmer in the title, you are boxing yourself in to a career role as a lumpen resource (literally, they will call you a "resource") and cost center, which the MBAs are going to do their level best to either eliminate or replace with a substitutable resource at a quarter of the price. That resource might be a younger resource, or it might be a resource with an accent, but either way they'll check your department's resource box. Instead, you want -- particularly as a consultant -- to be the guy giving measurable, predictable, huge impacts either to costs or, ideally, to driving revenue. If you cannot quantify your worth to the company, it will be quantified for you, and the default guess is going to be -1.5 * $YOUR_SALARY. If you can quantify the value of your work for the company -- by being the guy who makes them money using his bag of magic tricks that management frankly does not understand and does not give a shit about -- your market value will be far, far higher, whether you choose to take it in terms of dollars, flexibility, working conditions, or what have you.

alextgordon 16y ago
If you accept a job that requires such mindless bullshit, then you're going to get constant mindless bullshit in return, no matter what kind of pretense you cook up. The only winning move is not to play.
- dasil003 16y ago
  Gotta disagree on this one. This is all about the higher-ups' opinion of you. In most businesses technology is not a competitive advantage, and the brass doesn't understand how it could be; they just use industry-standard templates for applying technology. If you come in as someone whose job it is purely to implement such a template then you are simply a replaceable cog, no different than the 20 bookkeepers that the new accounting system replaced. On the other hand, if you come in able to really talk about the business and offer solutions at the level of upper management, then your value will be much more obvious to the people who matter.
didip 16y ago
If one happen to stumble upon such management, how should one introduce himself? Senior Software Engineer, Senior Software Architect, or others?
- steauengeglase 16y ago
  A friend of mine said it best. If you see something really interesting (concerning software) and you have the immediate desire to share it with someone else but there is no one around who will understand it, it is time to add Architect to your resume.
pw 16y ago
c.f. PG: "To get rich you need to get yourself in a situation with two things, measurement and leverage."