3 ms·
> McDonald appear to recognizes that flaw, and is trying to fix it. He admits he's not a dev, and so he tries to understand enough to do no evil. But as TP sai
by Deestan 13y ago
> McDonald appear to recognizes that flaw, and is trying to fix it. He admits he's not a dev, and so he tries to understand enough to do no evil.
But as TP said, a bit of programming teaches you nothing useful about managing tech.
If I'm going to deal with builders in my job, it doesn't help anyone that I spend a weekend building a bird feeder. They talk structural integrity and insulation levels to me, and my experience based managing "How do you assure the planks are aligned correctly? I have some extra nails in my shed - can I reduce costs by donating them to the project?" does nothing but annoy and insult.
As a techie, my job is to make technical decisions, and translate technical considerations to the business people. I do not expect them to understand my field; I expect them to respect my expertise.
- blowski 13y agoI think the point the OP is making is not that you should learn programming so that you can tell programmers what to do, but that you cannot even be in the meeting if you don't understand how a program works. So in terms of your analogy, if building the bird feeder was necessary for you to understand the difference between a nail and a plank so that you could at least have a conversation with the builders, then it was a very good idea.
- Elhana 13y agoClueless people are like kids - they will respect you more if they understand you. You will end up explaining them why it is not a good idea to make a bird feeder with a plywood and glue, like they want you to do.
- walshemj 13y agoOf course not with my old mech eng technician hat on you use plywood, glue and a BFO staple gun to hold it together while the glue cures :-) You would be surprised how strong you can make a plywood structure using this method. To get curves you might need to steam the plywood into place though.