Yeah, well I'm a programmer too, and a mathematician and a theoretical physicist. It is assumed that one has consummate skills in programming when one creates analytical procedures in math or physics. In comparison to either of these, programming is nothing more than glorified recipe writing. We have to write elegant code just to ensure that the data being analyzed isn't mishandled. The best programmers are the scientists like myself who use programming as a necessary tool to get the work done. The most complex programs are put together by us, not by a bunch of wimps who flunked their way through Comp Sci. or came out of biz school. You just don't hear about the scientist programmers because they aren't paid for such elementary activity. When you tackle a problem in theoretical physics, you have to think creatively. Writing code is the least of your tasks.
As far as working for some collection of hack programmers company, why would I want to demean myself? Please tell me about all of that quality code being sold for hundreds of billions of dollars. It isn't just MSFT that sells junk, you practically can't find a company whose code doesn't periodically crash or trash. So where is all the skill and craftsmanship? It was sacrificed for a few pieces of silver and the good life. When was the last time you saw any programmer quit because they didn't like the quality of code being produced by the firm? It happens, but not too often and that programmer usually has to leave programming and get a real job.
So you've heard that babble about the job of CEO is to make shareholders money. You must have got that from the McNealy press. If CEOs go about their responsibilities under the intent of maximizing stock price, they neither achieve long term revenue growth nor do they even maintain existing stock price. That kind of gurgle sounds real good after an extended and over-extended bull market, but in general it's the wrong attitude to have. You end up doing what is expedient to please the stock market and that courts disaster. It reminds me in the past of the reasons advanced why taxes couldn't be cut, because it would cause the bond market to fall. In other words doing something constructive results in people and companies having less ability to pay down debt. How many times have I heard Clinton, Bush, and more significantly, Wall Street analysts, make idiot statements like that? If CEOs wish to serve shareholder interest, they should forget about the stock market, forget about the shareholders, and concentrate on doing good business. The primary ingredient of doing good business is to have the properties I mentioned. You engender trust and confidence and so others find interacting with you rewarding.
I can understand why that is alien to you, since you're just a programmer and worse, you think highly of object-relational and datablades. It's that kind of self-serving prejudice that sinks companies and CEOs. Managers trying to please someone end up embracing mediocrity. You have to think that OR is a good way to store, someone pays you to do it. Now what were you saying about how useless personal integrity is? Oh, I see, it's only useless for CEOs. |
