for a lifetime. And it is not the engineers' fault. There is a
pathology that underlies the the social dynamics of technology-oriented
corporations.
WARNING: Long Elitist Rant Follows. If your I.Q. is under 88, stop
reading.
I will characterize of both types of people, the engineers, and the
sales&marketing types, then discuss the pathology on that results from
these characterizations. These are generalizations, and
generalizations, by definition, always have exceptions.
ENGINEERS:
Let's face it. We're not dumb, and we know it. We start off ahead.>From the very beginning, we excel in school. We're generally at thetop of our classes. Bringing home top grades becomes so routine we
take it for granted. The positive reinforcement from parents and
teachers only serve to encourage us to polish whatever raw talent we
were given.
We are not particularly socially adept, nor the most attractive in the
crowd (the God Is Fair Principle). Some of our social awkwardness, if
present is innate, but much of it comes from a cycle of ostracization
by people who are 'different' from us, which is essentially everyone
except the top 5%. The envy of such people serve to marginalize us.
We do not particularly look down upon people who are not like us. They
are just people. But sometimes there is a clash of tastes - one can
only listen to stories about who got drunk so many times before wanting
to pass out from boredom. And they do not enjoy our attention to
detail in old Star Trek episodes. But in general, contempt from us to
"them" is usually reserved for those who earn it. We generally do not
go around worrying that people not like us have to struggle with
simple things like General Relativity.
THE SALES AND MARKETING PEOPLE:
Let's face it. Some of them are really attractive. And they know it.
A few have charisma. But looks and charisma have limited earning
potential, unless you are an entertainer. From the very beginning,
these people struggle with their grades. They ***know*** from the very
beginning that they are *NOT* in the top 5%.
Those not like us generally regard us as having an inherent advantage
over them. It becomes difficult for even the most friendly among the
"other side" to not have envy every now and then. They struggle to get
into the best state college, while we get upset because we got 20
points less than we thought we would get on entrance exam to one of
three outstandingly reputable schools.
THE PATHOLOGY:
Now imagine you are humming long, earning your $100,000.00US+ per year,
wearing a slightly-smelling T-shirt because you "forgot" to wash it,
and smiling because you finally figured out that new PSD algorithm.
You look down at your socks and realize that, though both are white
with blue stripes, the stripes on one sock are wider than those on the
other. Oh well, it doesn't matter, your work is not a beauty contest.
What matters is how well you can hone in on just the right part for a
circuit and build the board with minimal cost. And the management
agrees. That's why they have an extremely relaxed dress code (for you)
and racks of Twinkies in the break room. They want you to be as relaxed
as possible so that your brain does what it should.
Along comes a marketing executive. His hair is combed. His shirt is
white, not smelly, with a tie hanging over it. He's getting coffee to
be alert. He articulates his words. He doesn't interrupt you when
you're speaking. He gives you eye contact, and though you cannot see
his socks, you are pretty sure they match, each other, and the shoes.
He's using words that seem to be a drivel of bombastic babble, and he
is about to go to conference call to discuss for an hour what you
already know the answer to. You notice that this seems to be a trend,
all kinds of people who don't know what the hell is *really* going on
spending hours and hours yapping as if they gearing up for brain
surgery.
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
Fear.
They are terrified at the thought that this wonderful opportunity, this
high-tech company, that pays them handsomely, $30,000/year MORE than
the top engineer in the company for basically walking around and
talking a lot and using Word, Powerpoint, and Outlook. And making sure
their socks match and their shirts do not smell. Only 10 years
earlier, they were working as managers in relatively low-paying jobs.
How times have changed! It is hard to believe. And to top it off,
they've managed to convince the CEO that *more* marketing and sales
people are needed. They need to build their team. Their is strength
in numbers. So they go and find other people like themselves, people
who don't know a bit from what a horse bytes on, and *those* people
begin earing the big bucks too. And each month, when $13,000+ is
electronically deposited into their account, and they are on a beach in
San Diego, drinking little fruity beverages while checking out the
locals, thinking about the after-party that they are going to go to
that evening in a company (V12) rental car, they reminisce about all
those years where they struggled in grade school, in high school, in
college, cheated occasionally just to get by while you took on "extra"
work for "intellectual stimulation", and now they are on top, and
they'll be DAMNED if they are going to let this go. God forbid if
upper management actually discovered that their role was non-essential
*before* it came time to do mass layoffs.
So they make their roles look absolutely critical by injecting
themselves deep into the bowels of progress.
-Le Chaud Lapin-
