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The problem with engineers and programmers, in my view, is generally
the quality of thinking going on. We have plenty of smart people, but
few who are really good.
I would prefer to find quality project managers, interface designers
and technical writers to keep them in line. These skills, while less
obviously "technical," require less brains to do and more brains to do
correctly. That's a nice way of saying that most project managers
aren't doing a great job because they misunderstand the job to be
something simpler than it is.
Of the programmers I know who are good, they do an excellent job of
what it is they are supposed to be doing, which is make solid code. But
they're going to need someone else to make the interface workable, and
then figure out if the application as a whole works toward any real
goal.
As far as society not encouraging responsibility for success, I
(believe that I) understand the sentiment, but think it might have more
luck along those lines if it defined success in less narrow terms. My
most successful friend is a stay-at-home mom who is Zen Buddhist(tm)
content and happy with life, and has never worked a day in her life.
Another successful friend is actually a Zen Buddhist, but he's still a
bit more harried.
> The problem with electronics technology and software is that we're
> still at the Model T stage. Nobody has devoted the sustained effort
> required to train engineers and programmers to develop equally
> reliable and usable products.
> That's certainly true. Our modern culture focuses on the denial of
> responsibility, not encouraging people to take responsibility for
> their own success.
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