My theory is that it's all a big power trip. If I'm making two to four times as much as you as your "manager" and have no clue as to how you do anything, one way that I can justify my pathetic existence if I have yet to obtain any level of enlightenment is to make it seem like what you're doing ain't shit. If they need to play that game, let em. That doesn't mean you have to play it.

All that matters to me is craftsmanship. A love and respect for the creation of quality work. That doesn't mean that people ever have to even notice it. It's like the art of good typesetting. The best work should never be noticed. No one (except a few nuts like me) is going to be reading along and suddenly go Ahhh.... I just love the way they use the Golden Section as the ration for the margins and using Times New Roman is a very sound choice for such a text. For me the same thing applies for much of software. You've done your job well when you hear nothing but the sound of people getting shit done.

BTW, none of this means that you don't CYA. Part of the power trip is the competitive incentive to screw over people who do. Be selfish. Make sure that what you do always benefits you. They sure as hell are.

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