I know very smart 60yo+ doctors with a lifetime of scientific achievements, who understands concepts way more complicated than the IP protocol or a browser, and who just refuse to learn it.
I know a woman who until recently worked as a secretary to one of the presidents of a large regional bank. The first thing she did each morning was to print out the president's e-mails, and bring them to him on paper. He would then dictate his responses and she would send the e-mail responses for him.
The job paid big bucks for several reasons:
- She knows how to take fast, accurate dictation with steno. They don't teach that anywhere anymore.
- She knows how to file. Real paper files.
- She would place his phone calls for him, old-fashioned style. He would say, "I need to talk to Mr. X," and a in a couple of minutes she'd be on the phone: "Is this Mr. X? Please hold for bank president Y."
- She dressed the part; coming to work in a proper business suit and briefcase each day, not carrying a backpack like a sixth-grader.
- She didn't mind making coffee for the boss. It's a hate crime to even ask these days, but she did it happily.
That bank president must have a very low stress level, since he only had to see his paper e-mail once a day.
> - She dressed the part; coming to work in a proper business suit and briefcase each day, not carrying a backpack like a sixth-grader.
> - She didn't mind making coffee for the boss. It's a hate crime to even ask these days, but she did it happily.
This seems like very strange editorializing to me. Do backpacks bother you so much? Who is complaining about making coffee if that's in the job description?
Perhaps my experience is unique, but in the places i've worked, everybody made each other tea all the time when their colleages were busy - and if one thing was certain, its that the boss never made their own tea. I don't think it was every considered a problem. That was just the order of things
You accidentally hit the core of the coffee problem. Woman in your story is secretary and coffee and baby sitting boss is her job description. Bank (industry) professionals are not expected to make coffee nor write boss mails. The women who complain about the coffee requirement are complaining that they are treated as secretaries and expected to do secretarial work, despite being industry professionals.
It is also dominance game - there is that thug-of-war among professionals over autonomy, leadership, ideas, credit, blame and what not. A person that should have no authority to order her around is ordering her around in front of third parties, which makes him look more like a boss and her more like secretary. Both request and complaint are office politics. Not coincidentally, secretaries (unlike industry professionals) are supposed to act rather submissive and manage boss emotions rather then propose ideas, argue or fight for them.
> - She dressed the part; coming to work in a proper business suit and briefcase each day, not carrying a backpack like a sixth-grader.
This is something I've been thinking more and more about lately. I used to be happy with the lax attitude most tech places have to attire but honestly I look around my office now and I wish we had a bit more of a dress standard. I was a tshirt and hoodie fiend but changed to slacks/smart jeans and a shirt recently. I've been on the end of so many barbs and jokes from coworkers over this (which I take in good humour). Interestingly I've found that I'm being taken more seriously by our management side/CTO etc. I have no interest in moving over there by the way, I'll be coding til I retire.
I'm going to be asked why we should change and what's wrong with the casual approach. I think if as a profession we want to be taken seriously, we need to start looking the part. Sure a lawyer could rock up into court wearing shorts and a faded 1980s Man Utd jersey and still do a good job, but honestly what would you actually think of him? What is actually wrong with looking smart?
Right! Workplaces seem to advertise to, for example, computer people how they are relaxed and that you can come to work in jeans. I just want to get to wear a suit for once, for the enjoyment of myself and others!
We had Classy (Client* Team) Mondays at a previous job of mine. The whole larger group would come in dressed up in suits and business appropriate dresses, then have some nibbles and drinks afterwards.
You read my mind with that last sentence. As I read your anecdote, I was marveling at how much relief she probably created by circumventing the email/slack/txt/messenger treadmill the rest of us are forced to run on during a workday.
You can enforce such rules on your own, by slowly trimming down after-hours "work" (since it is unpaid, it's not work to me). You can compensate this with very good time management and always being on time/reading up on meeting agendas. Nobody will openly criticize you for such a practice since everyone sees you as together and competent. Eventually they get used to this status quo and nobody will even question it anymore in your case. It might take you a few years, but it pays off in the end I think.
- She would place his phone calls for him, old-fashioned style. He would say, "I need to talk to Mr. X," and a in a couple of minutes she'd be on the phone: "Is this Mr. X? Please hold for bank president Y."
I would be surprised if this is still not one of the responsibilities of secretaries that work for CEO's.
I know law partners who are like this. If they generate so much value for their employer they can hire an assistant solely to bridge the technology gap.
My father was exactly like this (he retired last year after 49 years in practice as a lawyer, several decades of which he was managing partner of his own firm) - if he needed to send an email, just like sending a letter, he would shout down the corridor to his secretary and she would send it for him. Here's one just for the HN open-office haters: he only really retired because the consultancy gig he'd taken on for the twilight of his career (during which he still had a secretary who would send emails for him) switched to an open-office floor plan and he was extremely miserable because he could no longer take a nap after lunch.
Curiously, post-retirement he's bought a smartphone and is actually moderately competent with it, in a way I never really saw him be with a computer...
Here in Finland, practically everyone carries one. From young kids to grown adult men and women. I even saw an old person with one the other day. One can’t carry as much nor is it practical to use briefcases.
I'd argue that briefcase's are more practical for that kind of job where it involves a lot of paperwork, as you can lay them flat without worrying about crumbling them.
They said it themselves. Its about _looking_ a part. If they wanted practicality it would be business casual and a backpack but its not about that. Monkey suit and briefcase shows you're willing to jump through the hoops, toe the line and wear the uniform.
Warren Buffett I believe works in a similar way - his emails are printed out and he dictates responses. It probably saves quite a lot of time over checking the inbox in the usual way.
I know a woman who until recently worked as a secretary to one of the presidents of a large regional bank. The first thing she did each morning was to print out the president's e-mails, and bring them to him on paper. He would then dictate his responses and she would send the e-mail responses for him.
The job paid big bucks for several reasons:
- She knows how to take fast, accurate dictation with steno. They don't teach that anywhere anymore.
- She knows how to file. Real paper files.
- She would place his phone calls for him, old-fashioned style. He would say, "I need to talk to Mr. X," and a in a couple of minutes she'd be on the phone: "Is this Mr. X? Please hold for bank president Y."
- She dressed the part; coming to work in a proper business suit and briefcase each day, not carrying a backpack like a sixth-grader.
- She didn't mind making coffee for the boss. It's a hate crime to even ask these days, but she did it happily.
That bank president must have a very low stress level, since he only had to see his paper e-mail once a day.