Reputation is not a licence to be a jerk

The world of technology is filled with plenty of intelligent, talented, and colorful personalities.  This dynamic was one of the reasons why I was drawn to the business.  This week, I want to talk about one of these colorful personalities and how they represent some of the worst impulses in the technology business.

There are plenty of stereotypes in the technology business.  These are reinforced by popular culture in productions as diverse as James Bond movies, the Fox series 24, and the HBO program Silicon Valley.  Having over 18 years of experience in the business, I have seen many of these stereotypes in real life.  I have also met plenty of great people who are unique and innovative in every way.

By any standard, Alex St. John should be seen as one of the leading minds in technology. He was self-educated and self-taught.  He created the DirectX technology which powers Xbox and just about every PC game on Windows.  His work helped make Microsoft the powerhouse it is, and he earned further accolades, founding his own company.  This kind of achievement should make St. John a goodwill ambassador for the technology field; instead, he is coming off as a colossal jerk.

I can provide numerous examples already articulated elsewhere on the web if you don't mind.  These offenses are broken down into three categories.

• He does not see the value of women in technology.  Exhibit A.
• He thinks that exploitative work conditions in the software business, particularly the game business, are acceptable.  Exhibit B.
• Finally, anyone who disagrees with him is a “whiner” and not willing to work hard.  Exhibit C.

I have stated repeatedly that technology needs more women.  The fresh perspective they provide to technology is essential to improving product quality.  It also makes the office less like a Mongol raiding party and more like a 21st-century workplace.  The less testosterone in technology, the better.

Next, repeated studies have shown that long hours hinder productivity rather than a boon.  Notions of “crunch” time and working eighty-hour work weeks are exploitative and border on the illegal practice of wage theft.  Additionally, the twelve principles of Agile discourage this mindset, stressing development should be sustainable.  To St. John and other developers, burnout, turnover, and alienation are business costs.  Technology workers are not different from sweatshop workers and should be grateful for the conditions.

Finally, St. Jon has ridiculed people who disagree with him about diversity and exploitation of tech workers by claiming they are not ambitious or competent enough to understand his arguments.  In St. John’s world, I would have died of a heart attack because I would be living on a steady diet of caffeine, pizza, and stress.  The technology world has undermined two of my marriages because of high stress, turnover, and certain employment conditions.  It is hard to keep good employees if they don’t see or sleep with their significant others.  I consider myself a valuable professional to any organization. Still, to St. John, I am just a pencil to be ground down into a nub to be replaced by someone else just as disposable.

The bottom line is if you do not agree with St. John, then you are neither intelligent nor talented enough to work in technology.  This may explain why he is coaching CEOs and HR professionals on recruiting technology talent rather than managing technology talent.  I have worked for people like St. John who are convinced of their intellectual and moral superiority. It is not, and I consider those periods to be the low points of my career.  Technology is changing thanks to agile and efforts to improve diversity.  Faced with the changing environment, you can, lead, follow, or get out of the way.  I think that St. John is about to get trampled to death.

Until next time.