Bryan (who happens to have finally launched Constant Random Change) and I have been discussing all sorts of things from technology to business. One points of our discussion was this observation on management and the technology business by former Ruby on Rails hacker Zed Shaw. Here’s his CUSEC speech where he raised these points.

A bit of tech discussions in the middle but the juicier points on management and business can be had after. This is a real treat for any graduate of tech who plans to make money using related skills.

Zed Shaw – The ACL is Dead from CUSEC on Vimeo.

Now, to think local.

Fact of the matter is, if you’re in the Philippines, it will always be steak and strippers. In my four year’s working, I’ve been across several industries working on different aspects of business. Across those experiences, I can safely say that doing business here isn’t about good products or proper use of knowledge and technology – most of it is appealing to the what’s-in-it-for-me. Write excellent code all you want but here in the Philippines, bundle some crappy code with steak and strippers and you’re set to make millions.

It’s not simply a matter of management revolution to change the way organizations are run in the Philippines. A semi-feudal and semi-colonial society has to take leaps and bounds to reconcile with 21st century thought. Changes need to happen in the level of hegemonic ideologies in order to affect things.

***

A Fecesbook comment (and a conversation a couple of nights ago) made me think about that “Uno ka nga, Eng’g ka ba?” mentality. Not like there exist definitive metrics to compare the difficulty of a distinct discipline to another though I’ve seen geniuses and savants transcend proficiency across disciplines. So unless you’re one, I think the arguing for that “Eng’g ka ba?” point is moot.

Besides, as far as The Big Bang Theory is concerned, engineers are the oompaloompas of science and the social sciences are but pseudo-sciences. Reality has taught me that, in order to be really profitable, you need to be a jack of all trades, master of (at least) one.

***

Thinking of a next post – English Studies and its ZERO profitability.

Check out these other posts:

1. Attention to details and compromise while job hunting
2. Steak and caviar
3. SMS and the Filipino masses: A market, a mix, or a massacre?
4. Valued opinion
5. Should the local IT freelance pool turn its sights inward?