| I usually see both happening at the same time, but the real money still goes to the politicians. Brilliant nerds that solve problems for the organization on their own usually don't get rewarded as much as politicians despite the skills perhaps being more rare at the organization than politics. For example, you could deep dive into a bug that's been hanging around, finally find the really technical solution to it, but most of the money holders won't be able to appraise that value from the technical details alone. In general, simply giving away things to companies will usually get you taken advantage of (usually not maliciously). Doing a tour to explain why it's a problem first, then providing the solution, is the much better alternative. It really is true that it's a thankless job if everything is working well and you're being proactive by fixing problems before they become a problem. There are exceptions where the money holders can deal with the technical details and don't need to be sold on the problem first, but it's rare and usually those are prestigious jobs in close proximity to lots money. |