Of course, anyone who has by now labeled me an insufferable wise guy is completely unfamiliar with my work, be it coding, writing, speaking or training. Yes, this is an intentionally confrontational posture towards all who bury their heads in the sand and think of software and nothing but software. In fact, you happen to be my primary target for this particular conversation. But that doesn't mean that I don't like you. In fact, it's your very posterior that I'm trying to protect.

Week after week, I either personally encounter or hear tales of you, or someone like you, being trashed in the workplace because you have no grip on the realities of the business world. You're taken advantage of and work ridiculous hours to no good end. Your software requirements change more often than your manager changes his socks. You suffer the consequences of releases that are absolute disasters because your company refuse to give you the time you need in order to do things the right way.

You are completely unarmed in this melee if your only response speaks to the needs of the software. To your complete surprise and dismay, you'll find that nobody cares. Consequently, you're ignored, your project suffers an ill fate, and the skies just aren't as blue as they could be for one simple reason. You're trying to solve the right problems, but you're speaking the wrong language. And so, you lose. Over and over again.