"Technical decisions are often made for completely selfish reasons that cannot be influenced by a well-meaning engineer Powerful stakeholders are typically so stupid and dysfunctional that it's effectively impossible for you to identify their needs and deliver solutions to them The political game being played depends on private information that software engineers do not have, so any attempt to get involved will result in just blundering around"
"The general idea here is that software engineers are simply not equipped to play the game at the same level as real political operators. This is true! It would be a terrible mistake for a software engineer to think that you ought to start scheming and plotting like you're in Game of Thrones. Your schemes will be immediately uncovered and repurposed to your disadvantage and other people's gain. Scheming takes practice and power, and neither of those things are available to software engineers."
Many software engineers adopt a fatalistic view of company politics, believing involvement is pointless. Common reasons include selfish technical decisions, dysfunctional stakeholders, private political information, and managers' political advantage over engineers. Engineers lack the experience and power to engage in elaborate scheming and would be disadvantaged by attempting Game of Thrones–style plotting. Engineers function as tools within larger political games but can still participate without scheming. A direct way to gain political advantage is to make high-profile projects successful, particularly company-prioritized initiatives like AI efforts, which can lead to executive-granted rewards such as bonuses and assistance.
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