Happy International Programmer's Day.
I thought better of what I was going to say: that the best way to celebrate programmers on this day is to cancel all their meetings and put them alone with tools that work in a room with a door they can close.
I was going to remark that "rewarding" them with mandatory group recreation is how the managerial class flatters itself that company productivity is the result of the scintillating personalities of managers.
But I no longer agree with that. [1 of 3]
It has become almost impossible to climb out of the precariat, or avoid falling into it, without working in I.T. Almost everyone has to do it, whether they like it or not, and so there is no longer anything stereotypical one can say about the personality and preferences of programmers. [2 of 3]
Employers can extract an enormous financial advantage from the financial desperation of those who love it when their co-workers drink with them at a bar-- even those who adamantly do not want to drink at a bar. That personality type benefits from managers mandating group recreation. And so it is, in point of fact, accurate to say that company productivity is now a result of the scintillating personalities of the managerial class. [3 of 3]
