I am not sure how I found this book by Erik Dietrich. Maybe Google or Amazon recommended it. But I found it very inspiring. There are so many things in it that I agree with and so many new things that I am still having a hard time believing.
As a developer, who is having a hard time figuring out his career, this book provided an interesting perspective. The basic idea in it is that in any big corporation, developers are unlikely to find fulfilment. They may truly believe in their employer’s mission and try to climb the corporate ladder. When they do that, they will get stuck in middle management. They will keep working hard, hoping to move on to executive roles, but very few do so through belief and hard work alone.
Those who move to executive roles are a different type of people. He basically based his idea of corporate hierarchy on The Gervais Principle. I am not sure if I agree with this 100% but I can see some famous CEOs who would be very close to sociopaths or have other personality disorders. But for me the useful information was that at the executive level, it is your political skills that matter. If you want to move to executive roles, don’t waste your time mastering new technologies. Instead, attend the right networking events and make the right friends.
Finally, at the bottom of the hierarchy are the developers who actually get the work done. They will happily code and at the end of the day will feel accomplished. The only problem is that they don’t realize their business value and they are shortchanged. But they have life outside of the organization and enjoy their lives.
Author recommends that developers should start their own companies, either consulting or product-based. I see real estate as a good option to diversify my skills, especially sales skills. These skills will help me if I start my own consulting company, or I might just build products for the real estate industry.
I will be re-reading this book; I found it very helpful.
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