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by rbalicki
2898 days ago
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Agreed. I think the free market argument that "if advanced engineering skills were so unnecessary, some company would scoop up all the underpriced, underemployed junior engineers and make a killing" is a compelling response against the strong version of what the OP is saying. That's not to say that tech screens are perfect, or even testing the right thing. But they do play an important role: they're an attempt by the company to not give too much responsibility to someone who will use it irresponsibly: whether by accruing technical debt, or dropping tables willy nilly, or by taking down the website. 99% of engineering isn't plumbing. It's pushing back on all the feature requests that can't be done responsibly in the amount of time allotted. It's using your intimacy with the code base and inner working of the company to anticipate problems. It's taking advantage of your prestige as "some smart wizard that makes crazy things happen" to slow down and fix problems before they occur. Others in the company can't tell whether you're acting like a spoiled brat or doing your job. To them, it's literally indistinguishable. And that's why it's very important to not vest anyone with this amount of authority unless you're very sure that they're going to use it well. |
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I agree with the rest of your comment, but I don't think you're giving non-engineers enough credit here. Sure, in lots of companies, the managers/executives are non-technical, and might as well be managing a packaged goods company. They think software development is wizardry and have no idea what you do. In most tech companies, non-engineer roles are somewhere on a spectrum of technical knowledge that might surprise you. Maybe they've been through dozens more software release cycles than you. Maybe they are currently practicing software engineers trying out a new role. Maybe they co-wrote the standard that you're now implementing. I've seen all of the above in actual companies. Careful about jumping to incorrect conclusions based on someone's title or the actions their role demands.