Branding is NOT orthogonal to product quality, but is somewhat independent.
Here's why I disagree:
Many large software brands actually consist of
acquired software projects, and are not always developed by that brand at all.
Even in open source software, many projects under the same umbrella (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, FreeDesktop.org, Gnome, The Apache Foundation, etc.) differ in quality, because they are developed by completely different sets of developers with completely different ideas on what constitutes "good software" or "good quality" anyway.
As time passes, the set of developers and leads slowly change, and the targets and goals vary, leading the software projects themselves to vary in quality. Most of us are familiar with '
bit rot' and '
EEE', when the brand managers' policies change.
On the hardware side, a lot of hardware is sold under a licensed brand. It is common for example for tools (like spanners, screwdrivers, drills) for many brands to be made by the same manufacturer, and then just put into different shells. At one point in time, the tools sold under a specific brand may all be of high quality but low price, then next year, after being licensed at great profit to a different manufactured, all new tools are utter crap.
I do understand that some prefer to describe this as 'somewhat independent', but to me, because it is not
obvious before testing each item, and there are items in all quadrants with no universal (only niche-specific) correlation between quality (however you choose to define it) and brand or brand value/appreciation, 'orthogonal' (i.e. completely independent) is the appropriate definition.
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The exact definition or qualifier isn't that important, though; I could live with "somewhat independent" just as well.
The
utility of a particular tool –– software or hardware –– can be completely independent of ones opinion of the brand of that tool, as well. And this is what tooki and james_s (and others, including CatalinaWOW, if I understood correctly) pointed at: Not everybody uses a specific tool because of their brand, sometimes the tool itself is just very well suited for a particular task and workflow. Not everybody is using a specific tool because of the brand, even if many are. It tends to be the uninformed who pick things based on the brand, and it is annoying to be labeled as an uninformed one just because some of your tools belong to a particular brand.
To me, 'utility' is orthogonal to 'quality' and 'branding', too. Even a low-quality tool can be good enough for a given task. In general terms, 'quality' to me is a complex set of properties reliability, but reliability, robustness, and correctness of results are very prominent in the set. 'Utility' is more about usefulness and ease of use in obtaining a desired effect. As an example, I consider the thin cardboard "wallets" of matches low-quality but useful as always-carry, even though only half of them lit without breaking; and the five-inch long fireplace matches high-quality but not very useful as an always-carry, because they're so large, even though they are easy to lit and can be used in most situations where something needs to be lit on fire. Looking and testing one for how they behave tells me all I care about their properties, and their branding is completely irrelevant to me. (Here in Finland, they often advertise some place or how the manufacturer gives to charity, et cetera; I just don't care.)
When it comes to humans, when someone builds a good brand for themselves and becomes a "big gun", it is as if criticism of them (especially outside their field of expertise) suddenly becomes bashing/derogatory/unreasonable! The most annoying thing is that people who
think they are not swayed by the brand, seem to be utterly blind to this when it happens to themselves. Sure, the unknowing masses will reject anything coming from a person they dislike, while most scientists and engineers can listen to people in a specific field while ignoring them in other fields; but very few will actually investigate their own opinions to see whether their
elevated opinion is based on emotions and beliefs and the brand, instead of the actual work or tool at hand.
In other words, it is much, much easier to ignore a "bad" brand, than acknowledge a "good" brand is based on nothing but marketing, especially if you like some of the products (for brand-unrelated reasons, like utility in a specific task or workflow), or the person.
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To circle back at the original topic:
It seems that without personal branding efforts, even a very accomplished developer can be unknown/ignored. How many of you know of
DJB, Daniel J. Bernstein, for example?
All of this is in line with what I've written in this thread earlier.
To be a "big gun", you need personal branding; otherwise you are ignored.This in fact is one of the things I've suffered from my entire professional career. All my past colleagues, clients, and immediate superiors have said they're very impressed with my skills and effort, but it has never spread any wider, because it seems my own "brand" is to make things work and then be forgotten. I'm kind of an anti-brand, really. However, it is what it is, and I believe I'm happier being a toolmaker and an enabler instead of a "big gun" anyway. I admit, when I was younger, I was very bitter about this when I finally understood it, but nowadays, I just want to help those others who have the same kind of anti-brand tendencies to recognize the situation, and build the kind of "brand" they want. Probably not into "big gun" territory, but enough so that their career is not negatively impacted by this. My advice thus far has been mostly about communications: how to express oneself and ones work, how to use descriptive language to build mental imagery, how to defuse personal attacks by changing their perception of you, and so on –– because I had to learn, the hard way, all that myself. Others can and will help with marketing, wardrobe, and self-expression.
Now, if only I could be more concise, and express all this without being so darned verbose!