[bsenftner]

HN also underestimates the level of pettiness in the non-people-persons who became managers in tech. I was recently down voted for commenting that the typical tech manager does not want their engineers to have communication skills such that they can push back on unreasonable demands. My experience has been that is absolutely true; sure, they will say they want quality communications, but only as long as those communications are in agreement with whatever that manager and management want. Try telling them the truth that the overall architecture is bad, or there are these fundamental negative issues that were never addressed and are now consuming larger and larger resources to continue to "ignore"...

Actually being a material operator in a company that makes a difference is exactly what many, the majority, of middle managers simply can't handle. It scares them. It is too large, too aggressive, and demands too much upper level communications they can't handle. Not rocking the boat is the only game most managers know how to play, as the management above them appears simply untouchable to them.