I’m an engineer. I went to college for it. Got a degree in it. Dilbert cartoons apply to people like me.
One of the things that’s been really challenging since having my own company is just how idiotic the business world is.
You read about it. You hear about it. But seeing the idiocy first hand is just incredibly frustrating. Why did such and such deal get made? Because someone had a better technology? No. Because someone made a better business case? No. Instead, all too often I see deals made because “the other guys” has non-engineer sales teams that know how the biz game is really played. They got the decision maker at company X tickets to see their favorite baseball team at Spring Training. Or they pulled some strings to get the decision maker’s son a visit from a local sports hero or a visit from some other celebrity.
Hearing about it. Reading about it. It doesn’t come anywhere close to having the same impact in actually seeing it in action.