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A comment on How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates. Parent comment

Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by dreish on Thursday June 26, 2008 @10:32AM (#228631)
Yes, but it has one great takeaway quote that isn't self-serving:

> Watching nonprogrammers trying to run software companies is like watching someone who doesn't know how to surf trying to surf. Even if he has great advisers standing on the shore telling him what to do, he still falls off the board again and again. The cult of the M.B.A. likes to believe that you can run organizations that do things that you don't understand. But often, you can't.

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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by huhtenberg on Thursday June 26, 2008 @11:03AM (#228668)
This is true for any industry and it's a basic common sense for anyone but a recent MBA graduate without any real-world experience. There's nothing particularly great or insightful about this quote.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by neilc on Thursday June 26, 2008 @12:46PM (#228789)
Not really: the practice of installing CEOs without a lot of industry experience is quite common (see Terry Semel). It might be obvious to you, but not to everyone.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by natrius on Thursday June 26, 2008 @01:59PM (#228869)
Terry Semel had previous experience managing a large media company, which is what Yahoo wanted to become at the time he was hired.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by neilc on Thursday June 26, 2008 @02:05PM (#228878)
Sure, but he didn't have experience as a technology executive, and couldn't call "bullshit" on technical claims made by people reporting to him -- which is Joel's argument for why this sort of CEO isn't often a good idea.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by dreish on Thursday June 26, 2008 @12:36PM (#228772)
Not to veer off into politics, but the Bush administration would seem to be an existence proof that at least some part of your statement is incorrect. (Yes, I realize Bush has an MBA.) I've run into this attitude fairly often, and not just among MBAs.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by marionogueira on Thursday June 26, 2008 @05:51PM (#229156)
Hum... tell that to the non-programmer Steve Jobs (who doesn´t have a MBA either).
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by DaniFong on Thursday June 26, 2008 @06:31PM (#229201)
Steve is actually quite technical, he just wasn't a world-class prodigy in engineering like Woz was.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by giardini on Friday June 27, 2008 @12:08AM (#229424)
Well, it _does_ help to have sociopathic tendencies. BTW did he ever acknowledge that the child he fathered was indeed his daughter? From the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" I got the idea he wouldn't even _acknowledge_ his child for years.

Must be great to have a dad like that.

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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by Zev on Friday June 27, 2008 @01:33AM (#229484)
I'd hope that you dont base your entire perception of a person on a movie.
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Re:How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was li... by dreish on Friday June 27, 2008 @12:30PM (#229879)
That's a great case-in-point. He spent nearly his whole adult life running Apple, and he knows that company's business inside and out. He hired a Pepsi guy to take over as CEO, and things went poorly.
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