
Stanford CS major seeks sales/marketing monkey - dwynings
http://andrewchenblog.com/2011/02/05/stanford-cs-major-seeks-salesmarketing-monkey/
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random42
Can we stop saying monkeys? This attitude does not help.

A software business needs people with skills to _make_ stuff as well as people
with skills to _sell_ that stuff. Neither is more important than other, nor
can exist without the other.

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anon12212
If neither is more important, why do the business monkeys get paid
significantly more than the programming monkeys?

~~~
hyperbovine
"Important" is subjective. Compensation equals the intersection of supply and
demand. There are fewer business monkeys than code monkeys, and demand is
higher, so they make more. Teachers are more "important" than shortstops, but
who are better compensated?

Nerds never seem to get this. If the MBAs are so worthless and overpaid, pick
up the reigns and do it yourself... what's that? You say dealing with people
is difficult? .......

~~~
natnat
I really doubt that there are fewer business monkeys than code monkeys. In
2008, 335,000 students graduated college with a degree in business, while only
40,000 graduated with a degree in computer science or a related field. An
additional 70,000 studied other types of engineering, meaning there are about
three business majors for every engineer.

<http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/figures/fig_15.asp>

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natnat
Some businesses are run by engineers and are really successful because they
solve difficult problems really well. They have sales/marketing people, but
their main focus is in engineering. Google is a great example of such a
company.

Other businesses are run by businessmen and are really successful because they
can sell and market things that other people/businesses are willing to pay a
lot of money for. They might have a few coders, but they focus on sales
because their business is in exploiting the difference between the value some
software brings and the cost it takes to produce the software. Oracle does
this, and they're tremendously profitable, too.

Engineers make things. Salespeople get people to pay money for them. They're
both necessary, but the importance of each really depends on the industry. It
doesn't take a few thousand of the brightest minds in the world to make a
mediocre database. And it doesn't take a giant marketing team to sell ad space
through an auction.

But if you're going to change the world with new technology, you'll want a
company run by engineers. If you're going to exploit a niche in corporate
bureaucracy, you'll want lots of sales/business guys.

~~~
mbm
Do you have any data to support your assertion, i.e, that companies with
engineer CEOs are in aggregate more successful than those run by non-
engineers? We can go back and forth anecdotally, but that doesn't mean much
:-). You may very well be right, I'm just wondering.

~~~
natnat
That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm saying some businesses are more
effectively run by engineers and others are more effectively run by MBAs. It
depends on what the business is trying to do.

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damoncali
There are jerks in all walks of life. If you don't like your MBA, go find a
better one. Treating people like monkeys is the problem, not the solution.

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mc32
I think they're trying to be funny. It certainly does not come across as
funny, however. So, if they really seek a sales and marketing person, they
should avoid using loaded words like monkey, droid, etc.

See the satirical post about the terms rockstar and ninja, as it refers to
employees. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2180233>

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larsberg
To be fair, I've hung out with some of the folks in the business school here
at the UChicago, and there are some really bright and useful folks that I
would be delighted to work with again. Participated in their new venture
challenge thing with the bump folks and I found my teammates and many of the
other folks there to be smart, motivated, and very skilled at necessary things
that I never, ever want to become good at.

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anamax
Never Work for a Stanford Student Again
[http://norfolk.cs.washington.edu/htbin-
post/unrestricted/col...](http://norfolk.cs.washington.edu/htbin-
post/unrestricted/colloq/details.cgi?id=948) seems relevant.

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pnathan
If I'm a code monkey, where's my banana?

What? I don't even get a banana?

Screw this, I'm going to be a Librarian.

