The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5) - Burnout: Falling Towards Success

Burnout: Falling Towards Success

I talked to Nick Corcodilos, and happily he just forgot to add this article to his website. He's in the middle of a project, so it'll be a while before it shows up.

But it just occured to me to check the Way Back Machine and I found a copy of his article there. So for you folks on the fast track to burnout:

http://web.archive.org/web/20011121002647/http://www.eetimes.com/story/ask_the_headhunter/OEG20000530S0028

VP
Thursday, February 26, 2004

Articles like this point up just what a completely sh*tty field engineering and technology have become. The most competent are stigmatized and used as the Judas Goat. The 'reward' for taking on more than you can chew is: success (at the expense of family, health, and/or peace of mind); abject humiliation; or failure leading to dismissal.

Or maybe it's nothing new. I worked at a DOD contractor years ago and I heard a story about some guy who worked on a high-profile gummint proposal who blew his brains out in the parking lot one night. The fear of failure can literally kill you.

So ok, my 'recipe' or recommendation for truly "falling toward success" is: get the f*** out of technical work that is treated like a commodity. Do something high profile that is recognizable by business leaders, owners, or managers. Mainly - get off the treadmill, because some hot shot will walk over your broken corpse when you stumble.

IE: find ways to leverage your brains rather than work in situations where you're used, milked and tossed out.

Bored Bystander
Thursday, February 26, 2004

Technical folks would be well served by learning to interact better with non technical folks.

For example, engineers (of which I am one) tend to explaind the guts of the solution. They assume non engineers want to hear that detail. They don't.

They want to just hear that it works.

Put another way: engineers aren't taught a "bedside manner". Doctors are taught to have this air of confidence. They ACT like they should be respected, so they are.

The real Entrepreneur
Thursday, February 26, 2004

1. Many technical folks interact superbly with "non technical folks."

2. Communications break-downs are not always because the "technical folks" are wrong. When people can't understand legalese, this is interpreted as being because lawyers are smart. Why is there a different interpretation for technical material?

3. The big problem is that business is able to hire cheap people who do what they're told. There are many problems in IT projects, and those with good communications ask questions and expose incompetence.

Thursday, February 26, 2004