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| Why do the big "guns" get more credits for their technical skills? |
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| SiliconWizard:
They had great business skills. Not technical skills (although they still both had a valid technical background, but nothing spectacular.) The main skill of those people is business and vision, along with being at the right place at the right time. That's pretty much the recipe for success. Engineers rarely get any credit actually. The few ones who do are the exception. And those "star" engineers are a thing of the past. (Think Bob Widlar for instance.) Companies don't want star engineers anymore. That game is over. They want people who blend in and on whom they don't depend too much. So if you as an engineer want more recognition, you picked the wrong career. You get to do something you enjoy (hopefully) and get your paycheck. If you want more recognition do something else. |
| vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 21, 2022, 08:33:06 pm --- Software and computers could very easily have taken a different path. We very nearly ended up with a model based on timesharing on large computers with thin terminals. Which would have been unlikely to expand to all the application areas that occurred when everyone owned their own hardware and software resources. --- End quote --- Isn't that model similar to where we are going with "the Cloud"? Our computers are turning into "dumb terminals" by choice, with so many things done by "Apps" which are really only gateways to where the real computing happens. |
| pcprogrammer:
Nothing new about server client computing and probably has always been there. Over 15 years ago I did system management for a company that started to use thin clients connected to a Windows Terminal Server, after having used standard computers with a centralized storage system. Managing both the applications and the data is much easier when it is centralized. But in that setup it is at least your own system and you keep complete control over it. At first the central system was in the headquarters, but with the need for better connections it was moved to a data center, and fiber optic connections were installed to the branch offices. |
| pcprogrammer:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on September 22, 2022, 08:31:05 pm ---So if you as an engineer want more recognition, you picked the wrong career. You get to do something you enjoy (hopefully) and get your paycheck. If you want more recognition do something else. --- End quote --- Yes. Or invent something really special if you can and start your own company, but then you need the other skills too and you will no longer be able to be a successful engineer, because you have to run your company. |
| Nominal Animal:
--- Quote from: pcprogrammer on September 21, 2022, 06:46:51 am ---Why do the big "guns" get more credits for their technical skills then they might deserve? --- End quote --- Because they, or people around them, built them into a brand. What you do, can do, or know, matters basically nothing compared to the (public) perception of what you do, can do, or know. Managing that perception is what building oneself into a brand is all about. It is not wrong, in any sense, though. It works on humans, that's all; it is part of being a social animal, I believe. What it does mean is that if you are actually interested in what "big guns" know and understand, you start looking at their speech and output and work product with a critical eye; recognizing that a lot of it is brand management –– either conscious or more often unconscious: they do it because it works, not because they decided that that was the way they want to go about their career. In some ways, you'll appreciate facets of their work/brand more, in other ways your appreciation will vanish. However, if you do become critical about "big guns" –– regardless of whether we are talking about engineers, businessmen, political leaders, religions, nations, ideologies, ideas, or scientists –– be careful of who hears you voicing those criticisms. Humans are very keen about the brands they care about, and will instinctively stab you in the back and try to destroy you if given half a chance, if they feel you threaten their beloved brands. I cannot help but voice them out (a personality flaw), and you can see in at least one recent thread how that makes many otherwise rational and intelligent members here react. So, beware. |
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