Engineering at Microsoft is essentially divided into three disciplines. You have your PMs, which interface with customers and create project specifications, Tests, which test the software (duh), and Devs, who write the software (me). Anyway, IMHO being a Dev requires the most technical skill, followed by Tests, and finally PM. As I’ve started to meet more and more people at Microsoft, I’ve begun to notice how certain personalities traits are characteristic of certain roles. For example, the PMs I’ve met are FAR, FAR more social and… “normal” than any of the devs I’ve met. But they don’t radiate the same aura of brilliance that I get when talking to devs. It’s like we have a whole spectrum of personalities sorted by discipline. And what’s funny is that these stigmas affect the way that people interact with each other. Like I get the feeling that PMs think that Devs are just a bunch of antisocial losers who sit in their office and code all day, while devs think that PMs are a bunch of idiots who would be better served designing the next infomercial craze instead of meddling with important product work. Of course I’m exaggerating, I’ve met some very good PMs, but I thought that it was amusing.
It’s like this story that I heard in a programming class I took at work last year: A chicken and a pig are walking down the road. All of the sudden, the chicken turns to the pig and says “hey, I have a great idea! let’s open a restaurant!” The pig responds “Wow, that sounds like fun! What wil the restaurant be called?” The chicken answers, “Why, ham and eggs, of course!” Guess which one is the PM in this metaphore -_- stupid chickens
