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If you want to win friends and influence people that know how to program, try programming more. But you have to deal with & influence people that aren't progra

• jrockway 15y ago
  Why?
  • pnathan 15y ago
    Well. This seems kind of self-obvious to me. But I don't live in a programmer-heavy culture. Statistically speaking, most people are not programmers. So to have a broader influence and communication ability beyond our particular subculture of geeks and techies, we have to be able to ably communicate our ideas and concepts in ways that relate to them and make sense to them. The engineering world is full of brilliant people who do not have the people skills to communicate ideas (aka influence) to others. People like purchasers, salespeople, teachers of your children (if you have any), your family, your managers and executives, the plumber who fixes your toilet, your stockbroker: the list runs on and on. People who really matter to your existence, but don't live in the same technical space you do. I consider it a grave strategical error in one's career to shut out non-programmers. But, I am (relatively) young. Time will tell if I am incorrect or not.