I got a degree in petroleum engineering. So please bear in mind that I have been trained to bore holes up to 2 miles into the earth, guess how much stuff is down there by sucking carefully on one or two holes in cycles over a couple months, and figure out whether what we've found is gold or dust.

One of the more interesting classes was engineering economics. Basically, you're given a set of well test data, and are told to figure out how to maximize the return. You design the production plan, calculate the costs, returns, cash flows, etc. Its all about fiscal responsibility because if your plan is too risky or you don't budget your expenditures you end up sitting on a stack of gold bars too heavy to move. Not very valuable.

I think techies - and I *know* this holds for engineers - have had the business training to manage organizations and large projects effectively. But we're not considered for the roles - even if we lobby for them.

Something about a boys club I think. Shared ignorance yields camaraderie. That's what I'm finding.