Programmers make good programmers. Programmers who make good project managers are not that common. Programmers who make good CEO's are rare. I don't think I've met a programmer who would make a good president.
Sure, if you re-think the world to some utopia where the president only needs to figure out what the problems are, design new laws and implement them by pushing a button, then yes. But you don't need to watch a lot of West Wing to realize that the skills required are primarily people-skills: communication, diplomacy, delegation and negotiation. Some programmers have these, sure, but they are not their typical strengths.
Programmers who make good CEO's are rare. I don't think I've met a programmer who would make a good president.
Agreed, but have you met a lot of lawyers who would make good CEOs or presidents? I think you may be talking about rare people.
Just as an interesting reference point, people with undergraduate engineering degrees are actually represented as CEOs in the fortune 500 far out of proportion to their percentage of the undergraduate degree population. I believe it's reverse for government, though.
Of course, programming != engineering, though a lot of the programmers I know did major in some kind of STEM field.
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Programmers make good programmers. Programmers who make good project managers are not that common. Programmers who make good CEO's are rare. I don't think I've met a programmer who would make a good president.
Sure, if you re-think the world to some utopia where the president only needs to figure out what the problems are, design new laws and implement them by pushing a button, then yes. But you don't need to watch a lot of West Wing to realize that the skills required are primarily people-skills: communication, diplomacy, delegation and negotiation. Some programmers have these, sure, but they are not their typical strengths.
Programmers who make good CEO's are rare. I don't think I've met a programmer who would make a good president.
Agreed, but have you met a lot of lawyers who would make good CEOs or presidents? I think you may be talking about rare people.
Just as an interesting reference point, people with undergraduate engineering degrees are actually represented as CEOs in the fortune 500 far out of proportion to their percentage of the undergraduate degree population. I believe it's reverse for government, though.
Of course, programming != engineering, though a lot of the programmers I know did major in some kind of STEM field.