March 26, 2018 at 16:41How to explain to relatives who you are in the IT world by the example of buns
Hello, Habr! I present to you the translation of the article "How to Explain Your Tech Job to Your Family" by Mischa von Nachtigal.
A list of metaphors that will easily help you convey the essence of your IT profession at the dining table.
So let's go!
Your company is a bakery. Baking is an application. Sometimes your bakery sells buns directly to people, i.e. end consumers (b2c applications), but sometimes you sell them to other companies (b2b applications), which in turn supply your product to people.
Project Manager
You have been given the task to develop a strategy for a bakery or for a specific product - what tastes and characteristics your product should have, as well as what types of products your company will launch on the market. When developing a product, you represent the consumer side. You help transform feedback into new ideas (for example, adding a new syrup or a new type of baking), and also help you make decisions so that the product is popular and meets a certain level of quality. You do not control the chef and do not manage the bakery, but you set the general direction of business development, offering, among other things, expansion options, such as creating a coffee shop. conducting master classes, music shows, catering at various events, etc.
Industrial Designer
You are some kind of chef. You determine the preferences of customers, develop recipes and make sure that the decisions made are really what they want from the bakery. But you do not bake treats, you figure out how and what product will get to the buyer - from the menu and packaging to his taste. You control that your team makes exactly that product: with the right taste of syrup - but not only for new types of baking, but also for existing ones, so that customers remain satisfied with them. As for new types of products, you are developing their prototypes. determine how much they will take root and decide whether the game is worth the candle.
Engineer (developer)
You are a baker. You know how to cook all kinds of various pastries and use an oven. In your work you use various cooking methods - cutting, chopping, frying, whipping. From cakes to buns, from muffins to bread - you know what technologies and steps will be required, what temperature and tools will make your product great! You work closely with a product manager and industrial designer to do exactly what consumers expect. Sometimes you notice. that a conceived design or characteristic of a product may complicate its preparation and then you and your team are trying to find a way out of the situation. If it comes to a new product, then you decide whether it is possible from a technical point of view and try to master new technologies to solve the problem.
Sysadmin
Imagine a large network of bakeries, with hundreds of different types of baking, which would ideally be baked simultaneously in a massive oven, so as not to lose time, but they all require different temperatures. Your task is to ensure that everything runs smoothly. that this or that portion of products is baked according to the rules and can be sold to customers, that the bakery itself does not overheat and there are no threats of its destruction due to the high volume of work. You are also responsible for safety - fire safety and, if necessary, extinguishing, and always in search of increasing the efficiency of the bakery.
Product marketer.
You are working on a storefront as well as on a menu. It is up to you to attract new consumers for tasting and buying pastries.
APIs
Oven dials
Cloud A
large network oven that delivers your baked goods all over the world at high speed.
Machine learning The
ovens suddenly became very smart and can perform functions on their own, such as setting the required temperature depending on the type of baking or helping with some stages of the process (rolling, kneading the dough, checking readiness, etc.) Machine learning also helps the bakery itself , for example, collecting recommendations from previous purchases and other data.
Pair programming
Two bakers prepare baking together, helping each other and discussing the results achieved at the end of the process. Usually the results of such work are a steeper product and an effective team. And it also saves time. Five times.
A list of metaphors that will easily help you convey the essence of your IT profession at the dining table.
So let's go!
Foreword
Your company is a bakery. Baking is an application. Sometimes your bakery sells buns directly to people, i.e. end consumers (b2c applications), but sometimes you sell them to other companies (b2b applications), which in turn supply your product to people.
Position
Project Manager
You have been given the task to develop a strategy for a bakery or for a specific product - what tastes and characteristics your product should have, as well as what types of products your company will launch on the market. When developing a product, you represent the consumer side. You help transform feedback into new ideas (for example, adding a new syrup or a new type of baking), and also help you make decisions so that the product is popular and meets a certain level of quality. You do not control the chef and do not manage the bakery, but you set the general direction of business development, offering, among other things, expansion options, such as creating a coffee shop. conducting master classes, music shows, catering at various events, etc.
Industrial Designer
You are some kind of chef. You determine the preferences of customers, develop recipes and make sure that the decisions made are really what they want from the bakery. But you do not bake treats, you figure out how and what product will get to the buyer - from the menu and packaging to his taste. You control that your team makes exactly that product: with the right taste of syrup - but not only for new types of baking, but also for existing ones, so that customers remain satisfied with them. As for new types of products, you are developing their prototypes. determine how much they will take root and decide whether the game is worth the candle.
Engineer (developer)
You are a baker. You know how to cook all kinds of various pastries and use an oven. In your work you use various cooking methods - cutting, chopping, frying, whipping. From cakes to buns, from muffins to bread - you know what technologies and steps will be required, what temperature and tools will make your product great! You work closely with a product manager and industrial designer to do exactly what consumers expect. Sometimes you notice. that a conceived design or characteristic of a product may complicate its preparation and then you and your team are trying to find a way out of the situation. If it comes to a new product, then you decide whether it is possible from a technical point of view and try to master new technologies to solve the problem.
Sysadmin
Imagine a large network of bakeries, with hundreds of different types of baking, which would ideally be baked simultaneously in a massive oven, so as not to lose time, but they all require different temperatures. Your task is to ensure that everything runs smoothly. that this or that portion of products is baked according to the rules and can be sold to customers, that the bakery itself does not overheat and there are no threats of its destruction due to the high volume of work. You are also responsible for safety - fire safety and, if necessary, extinguishing, and always in search of increasing the efficiency of the bakery.
Product marketer.
You are working on a storefront as well as on a menu. It is up to you to attract new consumers for tasting and buying pastries.
Terms
APIs
Oven dials
Cloud A
large network oven that delivers your baked goods all over the world at high speed.
Machine learning The
ovens suddenly became very smart and can perform functions on their own, such as setting the required temperature depending on the type of baking or helping with some stages of the process (rolling, kneading the dough, checking readiness, etc.) Machine learning also helps the bakery itself , for example, collecting recommendations from previous purchases and other data.
Pair programming
Two bakers prepare baking together, helping each other and discussing the results achieved at the end of the process. Usually the results of such work are a steeper product and an effective team. And it also saves time. Five times.