[eeks]

You may be right about the DE -> Fellow promotion, although I only heard of it once, and that person was pretty spectacular. The Fellow -> DE path is unheard of. As is the RSM -> DE. All the DEs I know came from SWG and were STSM.

Re: my “dilution” comment, i was not thinking about DEs. I was thinking about non-technical people (management, law, accounting, ...) that have been creeping up the Fellowship lately. Also the bluewashed executive that were given a fellowship package to seeeten the pot.

[tytso]

Well I had the privilege of working with Paul McKenney who invented (and patented) Read-Copy-Update (RCU). He came to IBM as part of the Sequent acquisition, and was part of the Linux Technology Center, which was in the Systems and Technology group.

If you take a look at some of IBM's press releases, you'll see there are plenty of Fellows that come from the SWG and STG, and not just Research. For example:

https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/7142.wss