That is not nearly accurate analogy. Note that doctors in hospital do more then just looking smart.
And know multiple people who are like he described: generally keep aura of looking smart are are good in few selected areas and generally don't really do much work. And they always get absurd amount of benefit of doubt the same way you do here. Meanwhile anyone who criticize them is assumed to be stupid hospital janitor who don't get that they are the ones who do real work.
And know, they do not do "valuable complex things" nobody else cant grasps on the project. They talk about complex things around water cooler to impress people.
And yes I do know people who do complex things too.
Right, so we both know both types. But the person I was responding to either doesn't, or chose to omit one to try and make a point about it.
> That is not nearly accurate analogy. Note that doctors in hospital do more then just looking smart.
That's precesily my point. Doctors in hospital do more than just looking smart, even though janitors may or may not realise it. It's really an excellent analogy.
I have been a janitor (or pretty much that) during my MD studies, then I have been a nurse, then a doctor, then a programmer.
I didn't know a janitor who thought that nurses or doctors didn't do valuable work (greatly more valuable than their own).
In the IT field it's different though. Every junior is absolutely sure they are better than their team lead (been there, done that, also been the team lead). Every QA thinks that programmers are lazy brats. Every PM too. Every programmer thinks QAs and PMs are stupid and can't grok their (programmers') work (which, so far I think that it's indeed true (maybe not the stupid part, but the 'can't' part), and that's why the industry suffers).
It’s a bigger divide when we go across teams. Most programmers distinctly look down upon sysadmins and as a sysadmin and developer I really have to say that the sheer number of former blue collar workers that became sysadmins compared to developers does not help the perception. But more importantly, a lot of engineers have a sheer disdain for sales as if they don’t work hard and the same goes back even further where engineering students look down often on most liberal arts students (never mind that the liberal arts and business students are the ones that they’ll be working for probably statistically speaking).
> I didn't know a janitor who thought that nurses or doctors didn't do valuable work (greatly more valuable than their own).
More than once I've heard staff (not janitors though) talking depreciatively about doctors (e.g. "he thinks he knows everything", "he said X but my uncle says Y").
I think if you read what I wrote a bit more charitably you'll see that my point wasn't really about janitors. I used them figuratively to comment on OP's attitude that seemed like the terrible combination that is confidence and ignorance.
I absolutely agree with your comments. I just joined in to give my 2 cents with some real experience and to give more nuance to the discussion. I do agree that medical and IT fields are different (and that's what I tried to explain in my original comment)
> I didn't know a janitor who thought that nurses or doctors didn't do valuable work (greatly more valuable than their own).
Much harder, no doubt. More valuable though… a good portion of that value comes from having a clean hospital to begin with.
(Not that I am not talking about market value, which is obviously much lower than that of doctors, thanks to the larger supply of janitors, and how much cheaper it is to train them.)
Not trying to dismiss your thoughts, but I never met a janitor who believed something like this. They knew perfectly well that they are easily replaceable, that their work is easy etc. It might be because of culture/location of course - Eastern Europe in my case. Also, have in mind that the hospitals I worked in are quite different from what you imagine when you say "a hospital" and especially "a clean hospital" :D. One of the reasons I switched careers and locations.
And know multiple people who are like he described: generally keep aura of looking smart are are good in few selected areas and generally don't really do much work. And they always get absurd amount of benefit of doubt the same way you do here. Meanwhile anyone who criticize them is assumed to be stupid hospital janitor who don't get that they are the ones who do real work.
And know, they do not do "valuable complex things" nobody else cant grasps on the project. They talk about complex things around water cooler to impress people.
And yes I do know people who do complex things too.