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This article starts with a false premise that non-technical skills are undervalued then works backwards to try to defend them. > We often dismiss skills that a
by morgante 2y ago
This article starts with a false premise that non-technical skills are undervalued then works backwards to try to defend them.
> We often dismiss skills that are not societally valued by pretending they are not skills.
The truth is that "non-technical skills" are valued far more than technical skills. The people who run our world didn't get there from "technical" skills.
Non-technical skills are less legible so it's harder to deliberately practice them and there are many people running around in non-technical roles who are simply not good at the role. Tons of salespeople can't sell. Lots of product managers have no product vision. etc.
People who are actually good at non-technical jobs don't need to be lionized. They already have the money and power.
- FearNotDaniel 2y agoI'm not sales person myself, but I think it's pretty obvious to spot the difference between a sales person who is actually achieving sales, and one who is not. Perhaps much more legible than arguing whether a Dev team is creating or destroying value by deciding whether to refactor the mess or keep piling up technical debt. Listen to any sales podcast for five minutes, you'll see it's full of people deliberately practising specific skills, and lots of things we would probably characterise as "technical" activities once we have the language to identify and classify such techniques.
- morgante 2y agoIt's obvious/quantifiable once you are in the role. I don't understand the obsession with calling all skills "technical" though. Why do you feel that need?