Intelligence is key for compensation, money. Unfortunately it is at the eye of the beholder. It is perceived in you by the others with means to pay for your social value.
Even though I know a lot about basketball and have some skills, I can't make my basketball intelligence payoff for me in the NBA. I'm short and slow, while all the other players are tall and quick. My body is unfit for professional basketball, it reduces my intelligence, thus my ability to generate perceived value.
The NBA is an extreme (and tangible) example, but so is our current TI/Web industry. It requires a tricky mix of social/behavioral intelligence with technical intelligence that makes it very hard to the average professional to stand out. Maybe that's why there's so much frustration in the industry. People have the skills and the will to succeed, but something is always missing in their profile.
Howard Gardner's "multiple intelligences"[1] may help us understand what's going on. Our industry prefers some types of intelligence because they seem to be more aligned with business success than others. Some people have developed this intelligence during their childhood and early adult lives, thus are more attractive to some job positions than others. If your predominant intelligence is "logical-mathematical"[2], chances are you will be very motivated to work/study with CS; and expect just the contrary if you are "Bodily-kinesthetic"[3].
Well, my two cents. Just bringing in a different perspective.
Even though I know a lot about basketball and have some skills, I can't make my basketball intelligence payoff for me in the NBA. I'm short and slow, while all the other players are tall and quick. My body is unfit for professional basketball, it reduces my intelligence, thus my ability to generate perceived value.
The NBA is an extreme (and tangible) example, but so is our current TI/Web industry. It requires a tricky mix of social/behavioral intelligence with technical intelligence that makes it very hard to the average professional to stand out. Maybe that's why there's so much frustration in the industry. People have the skills and the will to succeed, but something is always missing in their profile.
Howard Gardner's "multiple intelligences"[1] may help us understand what's going on. Our industry prefers some types of intelligence because they seem to be more aligned with business success than others. Some people have developed this intelligence during their childhood and early adult lives, thus are more attractive to some job positions than others. If your predominant intelligence is "logical-mathematical"[2], chances are you will be very motivated to work/study with CS; and expect just the contrary if you are "Bodily-kinesthetic"[3].
Well, my two cents. Just bringing in a different perspective.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligence... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligence... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligence...