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John Carmack?

They did say "at Apple".

But Carmack is from a generation where developers were often still working on something on their own.

I do see a shift to a model where developers are viewed more as a commodity and less as artists. In a "just throw more developers at the problem" kind of way.

"Shift"?

It's been around long enough that seminar works on management calling the practice out are disregarded by some as outdated just by age

Everybody wants to commoditize their complement. This includes managers.

It feels like the trend right now is that developers are more expensive than managers. So if they’re a commodity, it’s the most precious kind. If the power dynamic keeps shifting that way though, I bet we’ll see some more like artists and less like cogs in the machine. Maybe not so much artists and more like other professionals.

Unfortunately, having a unique ability is no guarantee for not being treated like dirt, history tells us. E.g. look at how women have been treated historically up to recently.

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