Just a very delightful quote from the link above:

<quote>To me, however, a programmer is who I'm looking for, while a resume full of revenue increases and cost reductions sounds like an "anomalously high-cost parasite who types some mumbo-jumbo into Excel and PowerPoint, claiming credit for others' work".</quote>

Mind you, I am not saying that value-adding is a bad-thing. But given all the opportunities these days, Flash storage for example makes a world of difference, it is amazing how stubbornly all those PowerPoint mumbo-jumbu types resist. Usage of these technologies (in jargon, embracing technology) can add big bucks.

Oh boy, they love powerpoints and meetings as much as they lack technical skills, in my experience.

Thanks for that; maybe it's the confirmation bias speaking, but I couldn't agree more with that, especially parts like this:

"More importantly", because all means to reach our ends often fail, and then all we're left with is our means. You can't count on any career strategy to give you either a dream job or a load of money; it'll work to some extent or other but who knows. What you can count on is your lifestyle being affected rather predictably by your career choices. The impact of these choices on relationships could thus be weighted as more important than the impact on career advancement because it's more predictable.

I'm not about to change my hobbies because of who I work with, but I also have turned down obvious career-improving offers because it would have required I move. While the day job sucks (a lot sometimes), it's really stable and I really like the area. Call me stuck in a rut, say I'm afraid of change, even call me a programmer, but at least I'm happy.