News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do. Parent comment

Re:You're crap and paid too much for the little work you act... by crasshopper on Thursday March 22, 2012 @01:08AM (#3738487)
I agree with you that any developer who is curious about the larger reasons their paycheck arrives in the mail can & should learn how their business works.

But so many management skills -- empathy, listening, communicating clearly/fairly, inspiring people, making people feel valued -- are orthogonal to programming knowledge/skill.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:You're crap and paid too much for the little work you act... by mopoke on Thursday March 22, 2012 @01:19AM (#3738513)
Do you think? I'm not sure. Speaking as a developer who is now a manager, they're certainly not skills that came naturally but I think I have learned them and practice them fairly well.

Maybe I'll never be the natural that some people are but, with hard work and forcing myself out of my comfort zone, I am doing a good enough job.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:You're crap and paid too much for the little work you act... by jameshart on Thursday March 22, 2012 @08:54AM (#3739463)
"orthogonal" just means "uncorrelated" - not "inversely correlated". Your OP isn't saying those skills are automatically absent in people who code, but rather that ability to code has no bearing on your ability to manage - and vice versa.

Not saying I agree with the OP on that front.

[ Parent | on HN ]