We live in a house of cards. I hope that eventually people in power realize this. However, their incentive structures do not seem to be a forcing function for that eventuality.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What would be a tweak that might improve this situation?
Not exactly for this situation, but I've been thinking about distributed caching of web content.
Even if a website is down, someone somewhere most likely has it cached. Why can't I read it from their cache? If I'm trying to reach a static image file, why do I have to get it from the source?
That is genuinely interesting. But, let's put all "this nerd talk" into terms that someone in the average C-suite could understand.
How can C-suite stock RSU/comp/etc be tweaked to make them give a crap about this, or security?
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Decades ago, I was a teenager and I realized that going to fancy hotel bars was really interesting. I looked old enough, and I was dressed well. This was in Seattle. I once overheard a low-level cellular company exec/engineer complain about how he had to climb a tower, and check the radiation levels (yes non-ionizing). But this was a low level exec, who had to take responsibility.
He joked about how while checking a building on cap hill, he waved his wand above his head, and when he heard the beeps... he noped tf out. He said that it sucked that he had to do that, and sign-off.
That is actually cool, and real engineering/responsibility at the executive level.
I think that that kind of domain knowledge and getting your hands dirty is more necessary when you're actually having to solve real problems that real people pay real money for -- money that isn't able to be borrowed for free.
It's no coincidence that the clueless MBA who takes pride in knowing nothing about the business they're apart of proliferated during economic "spring time" -- low interest rates, genuine technological breakthroughs to capitalize on, early mover advantage, etc. When everyone is swimming in money, it's easier to get a slice without adequately proving why you deserve it.
Now we're in "winter." Interest rates are high, innovation is debatably slowing, and the previous early movers are having to prove their staying power.
All that to say: the bright side, I hope, of this pretty shitty time is that hopefully we don't _need_ to "put all this nerd talk into terms that someone in the average C-suite could understand," because hopefully the kinds of executives who are simultaneously building and running _tech companies_ and who are allergic to "nerd talk" will very simply fail to compete.
That's the free market (myth as it may often be in practice) at work -- those who are totally uninterested in the subject matter of their own companies aren't rewarded for their ignorance.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What would be a tweak that might improve this situation?