Re: MARKETER'S DREAM, ENGINEER'S NIGHTMARE - comments from Paul Baran

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Date: 15 Dec 93 20:33:55 EST
From: Paul Baran <73507.2223@CompuServe.COM>


Dave, re:


MARKETER'S DREAM, ENGINEER'S NIGHTMARE
Apple's chief promised too much on the Newton, and the design team
paid a heavy price.  by John Markoff


... The pressure to finish, exhilarating at first, eventually overwhelmed some
of the young designers.  After 18-hour days, some engineers went home and
cried.  Some quit.  One had a breakdown and ended up in jail.  One took a
pistol and killed himself.


(The story provides more detail on each of these.)


- Jon Jacky, University of Washington, jon@radonc.washington.edu


---------------------------
Hell, as a guy who has gone through lots of start-ups with 18 hour days and
loving it, it sounds like some 9 to 5 wimps got into the wrong job.  There are
startup guys and then there are the 9 to 5ers.  A 9 to 5er should never be
allowed to get near a boiler house project.  That takes a different breed of
engineer -- one that doesn't know any better, and one that keeps telling
himself, "I'm having fun; I'm having fun; I'm having fun..."


Startup guys tend to go from one startup to another.  They don't "burn out."
Burn out is something that occurs only to the 9 to 5ers that are encouraged to
stay to 7 PM.


Date: 16 Dec 93 12:04:16 EST
From: Paul Baran <73507.2223@CompuServe.COM>


Sure, Dave.  OK to republish. Consider it a contribution to honesty in
packaging.


Engineering in a highly competitive environment requires dedication and resolve
to win when competing against the best brains from all over the world.


If the message causes some 9 to 5ers to switch to some other fields, we all win.
We lower social costs by having fewer "burn outs."  The fewer remaining guys not
afraid of playing a tough challenging game will fair better economically and
will enjoy life better by not having to put up with whiners and cry babies that
accidentally stumbled into this profession.