Quote of the week
John Strong hits close to home, or to my home anyway:
[A]t no time in the 16 years I worked as a programmer did I ever have the slightest doubt that technical merit would be rewarded. Software development managers have a chronic and urgent need for talented engineers who can solve real business problems, and this gives the engineer a relative immunity to politics. If the engineer thinks of politics, it is probably because he has an ambition to obtain a role of influence beyond his technical niche.
Late in my career I became a technical writer. Suddenly, I noticed that office politics mattered. You had to be more careful about what you said in e-mails. You had to worry about not offending people on the outskirts of your professional orbit (editors, production people, even secretaries). The sort of technical writing I did requires a lot of knowledge about operating system internals, but the measure of performance is less objective. As Eric Raymond noted in a previous podcast (The Cathedral and the Bazaar), a computer program either works or it doesn’t.
Lacking any such ambition, I ignore office politics, except to note that I’ve already been through high school once already, fercrissake, and I refuse to endure it again.
(Via Sophistpundit.)
fillyjonk »
1 May 2009 · 7:12 am
I channel all of my powers-of-denial in the direction of office politics.
It’s the one area of life where I’m willing – no, happy – to play dumb.
McGehee »
1 May 2009 · 10:29 am
The nearest I ever came to playing office politics (not in an actual office), I confess I played something akin to nuclear war.
I got left alone after that.
Tatyana »
1 May 2009 · 11:04 am
Oh, but what would people with arts/English majors do if not office politics? What would graduate of “social sciences” do? Or Poli? Or Philosophy?
What would people like the over-100 days-incompetent in the White Office do, if not for the office/city/state/fed politics?
CGHill »
1 May 2009 · 11:13 am
“Stay the hell out of the way” is obviously too much to hope for.
Tatyana »
1 May 2009 · 11:47 am
Obviously.
McGehee »
1 May 2009 · 12:11 pm
Ooh! Pick me! ;-)
Tatyana »
1 May 2009 · 2:59 pm
McG: it’s a bit hard to go nuclear towards your manager, HR, Principals and/or clients. Although a girl may dream…
How did you do it?
Brian J. »
1 May 2009 · 4:07 pm
I heartily recommend a job in QA. You’re going to offend, bother, and kick everyone in the ego anyway. It’s very liberating, and the closest I come to politics is using passive voice to spare people’s feelings, such as saying “This was totally screwed up by you.”
McGehee »
1 May 2009 · 5:04 pm
Well, like I said, it wasn’t an actual office situation. I just knew what the other person feared most and presented it as a possibility in all (apparent) innocence.
Intimidation is a much more subtle tool than most people realize.