4 ms·

Looking at Dana Lawson's career on linked in, it looks like they never spent time being an actual developer. Seems fitting that a completely out of touch elite

by shimman 5mo ago

Looking at Dana Lawson's career on linked in, it looks like they never spent time being an actual developer. Seems fitting that a completely out of touch elite in the US would make such statements.

gedy 5mo ago
When I was younger I used to assume that CTO was like the ultimate experienced engineer, and most every CTO I've dealt with in 25 years has been a needle scratch for that assumption.
- yakshaving_jgt 5mo ago
  There are competent CTOs who are not above getting their hands dirty, and there are career politician type CTOs who have no discernible skills beyond projecting an illusion of technical brilliance. I've seen plenty of both, and I'm sure everything in between exists too.
  - gedy 5mo ago
    > career politician type CTOs Good description; that's been the my majority of companies unfortunately.
  - smrtinsert 5mo ago
    How about product only CTOs who quietly hate engineers because they don't know what they do, and they constantly feel threatened
- dijksterhuis 5mo ago
  I've known one semi-decent one in a circa 100 people business. Used to be the head of engineering. But he was fully transactional, sell stuff mode most of the time as CTO. CEO actually said one time that he wondered if he'd "ruined" the guy a little by making him CTO. He tried to bail me out of some very deep trouble i got myself in. Didn't end up working out, but he was good folk for sticking his neck out for someone on the engineering team when customers were screaming at him over the phone because of my screw up. Rest of the time, they've been a networking contact of the CEO who has "some tech stuff" on their resume. Last one screwed me over and fucked three years worth of work in one fell swoop (and he admitted he did this for his own gains over slack when challenged on one of my last days at that job). still not over that one.
- Traubenfuchs 5mo ago
  A CTO once asked me: Why do we have a test and staging environment? Could we propose removing them as cost savings initiative? During a time when cost savings where the number 1 priority. What a tiring world.
  - FireBeyond 5mo ago
    "Everybody has a test environment. Some are fortunate enough to have a separate production environment."
uxhacker 5mo ago
I wonder how many people saying similar things have the same background, but having said that she was VP of Engineering at GitHub, and VP of Engineering at Heptio.
- bbgm 5mo ago
  And started their career as a sysadmin. I don't know Dana at all, but some of the best kernel and networking people I've met got their start as sysadmins.
  - shimman 5mo ago
    Good thing there is nothing in their career that actually signals they were a good network engineer and not just another do-nothing corpo elitist that wants to collect their bag while fucking over society.
- shimman 5mo ago
  Their time at GitHub doesn't inspire confidence, especially when their decisions likely lead to GitHub's current problems when they have a history of hiring nonqualified people.
frogperson 5mo ago
Dont use the word 'elite' when describing people like this, it implies they are the best at something, which in my experience has never been the case, unless you count bullshitting and gaslighting.
- shimman 5mo ago
  No, elite refers to a class of people in the United States. Go study some labor history rather than going all orwell on words you disagree with.
signatoremo 5mo ago
Petty personal attack. A technical manager who manages developers should know very well the job of their reports. "Out of touch elite"? a MAGA-like populism view in a place where MAGA is (rightly) looked down on.
- surgical_fire 5mo ago
  > A technical manager who manages developers I was managed by a fair share of those that had absolutely no fucking idea of how I did my job.
- shimman 5mo ago
  It is a personal attack, that's why I made it. These people have a massive influence in society, they literally dictate the direction of technology in the country. They deserve scorn and public shaming. Do you think the direction of technology in the US is good? Do you think technology is consolidated in the US? Do you think qualified people should be making these decisions and not vanity plate chasers?

by shimman 5mo ago

Looking at Dana Lawson's career on linked in, it looks like they never spent time being an actual developer. Seems fitting that a completely out of touch elite in the US would make such statements.

gedy 5mo ago

When I was younger I used to assume that CTO was like the ultimate experienced engineer, and most every CTO I've dealt with in 25 years has been a needle scratch for that assumption.

yakshaving_jgt 5mo ago
There are competent CTOs who are not above getting their hands dirty, and there are career politician type CTOs who have no discernible skills beyond projecting an illusion of technical brilliance. I've seen plenty of both, and I'm sure everything in between exists too.
- gedy 5mo ago
  > career politician type CTOs Good description; that's been the my majority of companies unfortunately.
- smrtinsert 5mo ago
  How about product only CTOs who quietly hate engineers because they don't know what they do, and they constantly feel threatened
dijksterhuis 5mo ago
I've known one semi-decent one in a circa 100 people business. Used to be the head of engineering. But he was fully transactional, sell stuff mode most of the time as CTO. CEO actually said one time that he wondered if he'd "ruined" the guy a little by making him CTO. He tried to bail me out of some very deep trouble i got myself in. Didn't end up working out, but he was good folk for sticking his neck out for someone on the engineering team when customers were screaming at him over the phone because of my screw up. Rest of the time, they've been a networking contact of the CEO who has "some tech stuff" on their resume. Last one screwed me over and fucked three years worth of work in one fell swoop (and he admitted he did this for his own gains over slack when challenged on one of my last days at that job). still not over that one.
Traubenfuchs 5mo ago
A CTO once asked me: Why do we have a test and staging environment? Could we propose removing them as cost savings initiative? During a time when cost savings where the number 1 priority. What a tiring world.
- FireBeyond 5mo ago
  "Everybody has a test environment. Some are fortunate enough to have a separate production environment."

uxhacker 5mo ago

I wonder how many people saying similar things have the same background, but having said that she was VP of Engineering at GitHub, and VP of Engineering at Heptio.

bbgm 5mo ago
And started their career as a sysadmin. I don't know Dana at all, but some of the best kernel and networking people I've met got their start as sysadmins.
- shimman 5mo ago
  Good thing there is nothing in their career that actually signals they were a good network engineer and not just another do-nothing corpo elitist that wants to collect their bag while fucking over society.
shimman 5mo ago
Their time at GitHub doesn't inspire confidence, especially when their decisions likely lead to GitHub's current problems when they have a history of hiring nonqualified people.

frogperson 5mo ago

Dont use the word 'elite' when describing people like this, it implies they are the best at something, which in my experience has never been the case, unless you count bullshitting and gaslighting.

shimman 5mo ago
No, elite refers to a class of people in the United States. Go study some labor history rather than going all orwell on words you disagree with.

signatoremo 5mo ago

Petty personal attack. A technical manager who manages developers should know very well the job of their reports. "Out of touch elite"? a MAGA-like populism view in a place where MAGA is (rightly) looked down on.

surgical_fire 5mo ago
> A technical manager who manages developers I was managed by a fair share of those that had absolutely no fucking idea of how I did my job.
shimman 5mo ago
It is a personal attack, that's why I made it. These people have a massive influence in society, they literally dictate the direction of technology in the country. They deserve scorn and public shaming. Do you think the direction of technology in the US is good? Do you think technology is consolidated in the US? Do you think qualified people should be making these decisions and not vanity plate chasers?