> Silicon Valley culture encourages it. Google calls engineers who aren’t managers “individual contributors.” Technical skills are valued above soft skills or business skills. “Anyone who deals with a human being is considered less intelligent,” said Ellen Ullman, a software programmer and author of a new book, “Life in Code.” “You would think it would be the other way around, but the more your work is just talking to the machine, the more valuable it is.”

While I clearly don't think one should go to the extreme of undervaluing soft skills, can we at least keep one industry that primarily values technical competence? There is absolutely no shortage of other fields (most of them) where the main/only way to advance is through management, and I don't think this has to be treated as a flaw that needs to be fixed.