Money and people
" I can behave appropriately up to Cxx level both internally and with clients, and I'm happy to crawl under a desk to plug in network cables"
Can't do both. If you have the mind that lets you talk to a CEO of some multi-million turnover company you will not delight in scrubbing under a desk.
I am a waster of a manager with a magnificent superiority complex that most of you think you would hate. I also wheel my salary home in a wheelbarrow.
How come? - money and people. The two most difficult items to handle in any project It, bringing a car engine to market, or designing a thing. All of which I have done or been associated with.
If you can summarize a complex problem in the terms of your audience, relate it to their wants and also provide ££ based choices you can talk to a CEx, but those features are the opposite of sitting down trying to fix a buggy program.
I know enough about JSON, C#, IP routing, database design and so on that I can have a decent discussion with the people perpetrating the work, but more importantly I can translate that into something that people way above me or at a customer can understand just enough for them to make a decision which mostly I have made for them.
If you can't do that, stick to some aspect of computing but be fucking good at what you do - the best in your group. I do not employ generalists, only people highly skilled in their own area, but they can also communicate to their peers. They form ad hoc teams to build systems and solve problems, but unless you are damn good you can't do the work fast enough.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
