Uff...these engineers!!!!
What's really up with these engineers (no offense)?? Do they even have an idea what they are really doing?? I am not sure about other's, but at my work, the engineers and the marketing ppl are always ready to get down to the war zone.
Now I work as a Marketing Manager and am responsible for the entire marketing dept. of the company. The VP of Engineering is someone I am always having arguments with. I don't say that I ought to be always right...but 90% of times what I am saying is making sense. But since he is an engineer, he has only one track mind. I have literally told him once that he cannot keep doing things the way is is currently doing. Since I am still in the company and he didn't get me fired, I guess he cared a damn for what I said.
I had always heard about clashes between the MBA's and the Engineers. I am surprised how true everything I heard has turned out to be. It just is so hard for them to understand tiny miny things. The word "customer" just doesn't exist in their dictionaries. Deadlines are not part of their routine.
Really, somedays I am so frustrated with all this-and I guess, today has been one of those days!
Now I work as a Marketing Manager and am responsible for the entire marketing dept. of the company. The VP of Engineering is someone I am always having arguments with. I don't say that I ought to be always right...but 90% of times what I am saying is making sense. But since he is an engineer, he has only one track mind. I have literally told him once that he cannot keep doing things the way is is currently doing. Since I am still in the company and he didn't get me fired, I guess he cared a damn for what I said.
I had always heard about clashes between the MBA's and the Engineers. I am surprised how true everything I heard has turned out to be. It just is so hard for them to understand tiny miny things. The word "customer" just doesn't exist in their dictionaries. Deadlines are not part of their routine.
Really, somedays I am so frustrated with all this-and I guess, today has been one of those days!
posted by mannat @ 6/30/2005 10:19:00 PM
18 Comments:
At June 30, 2005 11:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
awww... relax...hota hai Mannat.. hota hai... chillax maarne ka :)
At June 30, 2005 11:57 PM,
Deepak Jeswal said…
Marketing and production ; marketing and credit (in retail assets in loans companies) ; marketing and operations ... they will always be at loggerheads ... and its kinda good also ... balances out stuff. The amount of fights that i used to hv with my credit officer when i was in a bank is legendary , with literally files being thrown about!
At July 01, 2005 3:11 AM,
Gaurav said…
Hi Mannat..
Here for the first time..and what an article to welcome an engineer! ;-) Hilarious one indeed although i can understand ur condition..The word customer dont exist in our dictionaries? ssya who? After all we are the ones who take care of them by making the products according to their need! and deadlines..ask those poor fellows called software engineers who barely manage to sleep during the delivery of the project!
But a nice write up indeed...:-)
At July 01, 2005 8:23 AM,
Vivhyd said…
Mannat.. I completely disagree with you.. Thats only ur perception of an Engineer.. we don't think MBAs are here to take care of customers.. all they are interested is in making profits and money.. so we don't think high of MBAs..
the place I work in .. places a high priority in product delivery and solving customer problems and all are engineers here and the way u have put it is an insult to all the poor software engineers.. if only u knew wht kind of life they live... Sorry mam.. 1 rotten apple doesn't spoil the entire bunch in this case...
At July 01, 2005 8:28 AM,
Tarun said…
hey Mannat, Nice change....looks good. I don't know about others but I do care for dead lines. Regd. clash I think it's the way these two grps think, it's because they don't know about each other's work....
At July 01, 2005 8:50 AM,
mannat said…
Rash...I know hota hai...but really, sometimes it gets on my nerves...the worse is when I get all this frustration home and keep cribbing about it the whole day!
DJ...yeah, I guess it does balances out to some extent...but the only thing that makes me upset is that many of them want things to be done their own way...whereas I as a marketing person look at things in the wider aspect. "Files being thrown at each other"???...not that is an extreme...we have gone upto yelling at each other. I guess the amt. of work related law suites in US helps to keep ‘violence’ outta work to some extent.
Maverick...thanks for visiting my blog...and I am sorry that the welcome was not very pleasant. I am sure the engineers make the products for the customers, but that is the end of it. I wrote this post only relating to my work and from what I have heard from other people. I am sure not all the engineers in the world are like this. And as far as software engineers are concerned...I totally agree that they work a lot harder than many other. But I was really pointing out the industrial engineers (ceramic engineers, mechanical, etc).
Vivek...wo, wo, wo...someone seems to be offended by my post. I apologize for that...coz' that was not my intention. I was just pouring out my frustration and please don't take this personally. I was simply telling you how it goes at my work and I am sorry if you took it in a broader aspect.
And as far as MBA's are concerned, they do take care of the customers...afterall thats what they have been taught (I am sure there must be some exceptions).I don't think that they are ONLY worried about making money & profits...that sure is one of their goals (and why not???). If u r working for a co., I would think that besides your personal growth, you should also work towards improving the bottom line of the company (and both these are surely interwoven).
And again, I really didn't point out towards the software engineers...infact I have never had much of a professional interaction with a software engineer at work...I guess they have never given me a chance. I simply was telling you how it is at my work...
But on the other note, one thing is sure...MBA's are always smarter than the Engineers ;)...woops...sorry!!!
Tarun...thanks for liking the new look (I was trying my hands on what the engineers do;…not bad, huh???). And yes, the clashes are mainly due to how the two groups think. But what I feel is that the MBA's always know how to tackle issues relating to other fields also, but the engineer's knowledge is very much confined to their own field (again, I am talking from my personal experience...no offense to all the smart engineers out there)
At July 01, 2005 8:55 AM,
Anonymous said…
Wow Mannat, you are getting a nice group of bloggers who are commenting now. :) That's fabulous!! :)
Ok, well I agree that there can be a clash between techies and non-techies. In fact I feel that someone that up on the chain (VP of anything) should atleast have a better understanding of the business aspects of the job.
Now I graduted with a Business Computer Systems degree, which really should have put me as the liasion between the techies and non-techies. Even though I have now become a techie, I still know the effect of any job on the business side of it. You should be able to talk through anything with a non-techie manager to ensure that its the right decision that's being made for the company.
Totally agree with you, VP should get put on his business cap when discussing business matters. :)
At July 01, 2005 9:16 AM,
Vivhyd said…
// But on the other note, one thing is sure...MBA's are always smarter than the Engineers ;)...woops...sorry!!! //
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
At July 01, 2005 9:32 AM,
mannat said…
Poonam...exactly...if a guy is the VO of Engineering, he should be familiar with all the fields. Believe me, if I start telling you all the blunders he does, you would get a good laugh. As long as it's not work related, we get along very well....but I really think that he is not good at what he gets paid for.
Vivek...no comments:)
At July 01, 2005 2:06 PM,
AF said…
Take it easy!. You have a nice blog.
At July 01, 2005 3:53 PM,
test said…
This will prove all ...
Three Engineers and three MBAs are traveling by train to a conference.At the station, the three MBAs each buy tickets and watch as the threeEngineers buy only a single ticket. "How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?" asks an MBA."Watch and you'll see," answers an Engineer. They all board the train. The MBAs take their respective seats but allthree Engineers cram into a bathroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes aroundcollecting tickets. He knocks on the bathroom door and says, "Ticket, please." The door opensjust a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductortakes it and moves on. The MBAs see this and agree it was quite a clever idea. So after theconference, the MBAs decide to copy the Engineers on the return trip andsave some money (being clever with money, and all that). When they get tothe station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To theirastonishment, the Engineers don't buy a ticket at all. "How are you going to travel without a ticket?" says one perplexed MBA."Watch and you'll see," answers an Engineer. When they board the train the three MBAs cram into a bathroom and thethree Engineers cram into another one nearby. The train departs. Shortly afterward, one of the Engineers leaves his bathroom and walks overto the bathroom where the MBAs are hiding. He knocks on the door and says,"Ticket, please."
:D
At July 02, 2005 2:58 AM,
Gaurav said…
Chalo that means u spared me!
am neither a software engg. nor an industrial one!
;-)
At July 02, 2005 5:04 AM,
Anonymous said…
Ahem!!.
No matter what, majority of fortune 500 firms are being lead by Technical guys with no MBA or any business education, and they are successful in making their firms a success. :p
So think twice before u say something. All ppl are nt the same.Moreover, I dont think MBA education teaches one how to think. It depends on each individual, how good they are taking right decisions at the right time. Look at "Steve Jobs" he dont have a formal education or any degree but he is successful.
Read this..
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
Waise bhi, kaam ki baathein yahan pe discuss karne ke liye nahi hoti!!. :)
And that makes one of my longest comments. Have a nice weekend. Enjoy. :p
At July 02, 2005 7:23 AM,
mannat said…
af...thanks for visiting and thanks for liking my blog.
Manish...LOL...I have many more like these which go the other way around;)
Maverick...chalo...good that you got spared...so r u a software engineer?
Govind...agree with you cent percent. And again, I was not targeting all the engineers in this world...I was just talking about the ones in my company...and mine is not a huge company listed on any fortune 500/1000...so I guess that might be the reason. "MBA education does not think them how to think"??? Now that sure is a very bold statement!!! I won't comment on that because I don't want to heat up this topic anymore.
I was NOT targeting all the engineers in my post..I was simply venting out my frustration at work...so please guys, don't take it personally. My overall impression about engineers is not bad...infact I know so many engineers (including my husband) who are simply genious. And many times education does not even matter what a person is doing...like Govind mentioned Steve Jobs...the guy is afterall a CEO of two companies!!!
At July 04, 2005 11:52 PM,
Gaurav said…
Nope...Electronics & Telecom guy!
At July 07, 2005 8:09 PM,
Arm Pitt said…
had fun reading the comments than the original post (which was fun too). but gotto say one thing - you dont need a MBA to be a good manager or a people person. Techies could become managers, can MBAs become techies?
At July 08, 2005 6:58 AM,
mannat said…
Maverick...I am sure electronics guys are smart...what say;)?
Arm Pitt...are you by any chance related to Brad Pitt??:);)
I am glad that you had fun reading the comments...yeah, got some heated response from my fellow bloggers.
Now to answer your questions...MBA's sure could become great techies...a little bit of training and voila...they will excel in that field too. On the other hand, God forbid if the engineers in my company try their hands on management, the company would be shut down in no time:)
At December 05, 2005 11:50 AM,
Anonymous said…
For Engineers learning principles of Management is a matter of 20 days . But How many MBAs ( if not techie ) can take a course in Transport Phenomena .
Gyani
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