Subj : Re: Software Job Market Myths
To   : comp.programming,comp.software-eng
From : CTips
Date : Mon Jul 04 2005 08:09 am

shelley@osel.netkonect.co.uk wrote:

> 
> CTips wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> 
>>(and most managers cant - if they could, they probably wouldn't be managers)
> 
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Um, yes - crossed my mind too - but that's another can of worms.
> 
That *wasn't* a pejorative statement. The complete statement was 
(slightly rephrased):

"Most managers can't grok the capabilities and/or motivations of 
exceptional programmers - if they could, they probably wouldn't be managers"

One factor in the inability to judge an exceptional programmers 
capabilities is the fact that they are so much more capable.

Consider an athlete who can run a mile in under 4 minutes. We can 
reliably predict that he will run a mile in 4 minutes +/- some seconds. 
However, how do you think he will do in a marathon? the 100m sprint? 
rock-climbing? a 10 mile bike-ride. It would be safe to say that he will 
do much better than your average runner, but we can't predict how 
capable he is at other athletic endeavours.

Similarily for programming. Lets assume a person solves a problem that a 
team had previously unsuccessfully worked on for a year in about 3 
months. We know he's probably very capable. But how will he do on a 
different problem? Better than the people on the team, but how much better?

Another problem in judging capabilities is the lack of a yardstick. In 
general, we can't measure the complexity of a problem. We may be able to 
measure the complexity of the solution, but that may have little bearing 
on the complexity of the problem. It may be a simple problem for which 
someone wrote a complex problem, a complex problem whose program is 
simple, or a complex problem for which the programmer discovered an 
elegant solution.

Unlike the 4-minute mile, for which there is an absolute metric, or the 
failed project, for which there is a comparitive measure, for most 
projects the way a projects complexity is decided is using the managers 
judgement. If their initial determination of the projects complexity is 
incorrect (i.e. they consider a complex project to be simple), and a 
programmer brings in that project quickly, they will underestimate his 
capabilities.

Now, lets take the case where a manager actually can judge exceptional 
capabilities correctly. That generally indicates a more general 
competence (they need to be smart, people-aware, and technically 
competent). Also, it indicates a certain ambition (they obviously wanted 
to become managers). Such people tend to either go back to the technical 
ranks (they discover they are happier doing technical stuff) or, in 
larger companies, get fast-tracked and promoted upwards.

.