Are there any technical people leaders anymore? Seems like they are focused on bringing in leaders that have no skill, but claim to be great coaches. We are in a death spiral and need technical leaders who can help solution, not leaders who want to focus on asking if you are done yet. And the new PLs who want to help you with career coaching? GTFO. I don't need career advice from someone who has just arrived on the scene when I've been here for years. I need a leader that can remove roadblocks. We are so lost.
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@j3 You sound wise, not joking. Unfortunately you might become this weeks dog whistle by people that don't appreciate your wisdom. Cheers to you
@bx+1k7vb1367 If the design is only good in my head, then fire me. However, as a senior engineer, one that is called to clean their messes, I would think I proved, time and again, that I am knowledgeable and my designs work. It is stoopid to pay for technical advice and then ignore it, and that has happened at this company in all management levels.
The biggest tomfoolery of all, has been the BEV wet dream of Billy and Fartley. All the studies were done, showing there was no public interest, no infraestructure, that Ford was late to the party, and still, the !diots at the top sunk 50 billions in the BEV nonsense. Worse, they got rid of the experienced engineers.
If Ford would have kept benchmarking Toyota, and forgotten about Tesla, Ford would be eating GM's lunch right now. Instead, we are getting closer to bankruptcy.
BTW, is true Elon Musk is an engineer, he is very smart, he works hard, but his main "virtue" at work, is listening to people that knows more than him. He knows a lot, but he doesn't know everything. So in a meeting, he asks questions, and follows the technical advice of the talented people he hired. Complete opposite to what I have seen at Ford. You would think those MBA types here would listen to the technical people, since they have no clue, but you would be so wrong. In fact, it doesn't matter how talented a person is, if publicly in a meeting propones something that is different from the managers, is going to be sh!tcanned. So many good people were laidoff, many went to another company, and we, the remaining ones, are silent. We try to fix the mistakes we can, but quietly. And some already don't care. They see the recalls and issues as "punishment" for the ill treatment they received.
whatever you do, if you want to stay at Ford, get way off the technical career track. it is all budgets and headcount and processes from here to eternity in dearborn. no matter what they tell you, the technical track is a dead end. dead dead 1000x dead. the CEO is a marketing guy. mr. ford is not an engineer. they hired a furniture guy to run the place for a while. big hints there.
@fc I wholeheartedly agree.
Leadership requires tough decisions and accountability. Ford will never allow true leaders only sycophants.
There is no place for tech leadership there, it’s not those who know how lick a-s will survive and grow, they can train you on technical details on how to do it if you lick theirs, lol
I was d-mb enough to think that being highly technical and knowledgeable would make me valuable. Ha! All I did was paint a big old target 🎯 on my back. At Ford it truly is who you know and not what you know. If you want to get ahead there, figure out a way to work your way into the Friends and Family club.
@c0 Ah, yes — the Art Vandelay school of management. Importer, exporter, self-proclaimed expert on everything.
The system is dysfunctional , for some reason reason MBA is a crown award batch to upper management. This is totally wrong. I agree 100%. There are too many people who want to lead people and claim leadership. How can you be a leader if you have nothing to show on technical side ? This is why they are straight liars and scAAmbags without principles in life to get to the top at any costs , even if bu-tt kissing is a necessity.
@ba trust but verify, you design might be only good in your head
You know how to get ahead in IT? Get an MBA, not a masters in computer science or information technology. This is another reason for how we got into this mess. Todays'
IT LL's know all about speadsheets, balance sheets and budgeting, but dont know anything about technical issues. The company policies have created these useless monsters.
@OP. I don't need a technical leader, even when that usually makes things easier (they tend to understand better the problem and the solution). No, what I need is a leader that trust me being good enough at my job, that can rely on my solutions and technical advice.
I am tired of those "technical leaders", that were not so great technically 20 years ago (in their "technical prime"), that constantly change and replace my solutions. Of course, the result is more sh!t that needs fixing.
The sad part is that those changes to my designs are based mainly in two groups:
- Saving some money, so they can claim a "victory with parades or applauses" and get a promotion or bigger bonus.
- Spend more money that is needed, so they can cover their a$$es and play the office politics game.
The worst of all, is those "new" technical leaders that come already with a predetermined solution before even entering through the door, forget about understanding the problem. A good example is the promotion for the use of AI like is the freaking Harry Potter wand. Sheesh! Stop already with the nonsense, will you? Unless someone had the same issue, and posted the solution for all to see, AI will not help. And since we at Ford do things very "uniquely", against the mainstream, AI is even more useless.
I am just tired of competing with the "technical leaders" that want to do my job, or tell me how to do it. My job is to present the possible technical solutions, their cons and pros. Not to "engineer" whatever stupidity that comes from the leader's mouth (or a$$, sometimes I am not sure).
End of rant...
In 2022 and 2023 Ford either canned or forced retired most ICE powertrain TL and TS’s. Fartley didn’t need them with all the billions of BEV work needed. The 🤡 still has his job.
The leaders we've collected from Stellantis and GM are terrible. No wonder their previous employer fired them.