Why Your IT Department Needs To Staff a Hacker 241
First time accepted submitter anaphora writes "In this TED Talk, Rory Sutherland discusses the need for every company to have a staff member with the power to do big things but no budget to spend: these are the kinds of individuals who are not afraid to recommend cheap and effective ways to solve big company problems. This article argues that, in the IT world, this person is none other than a highly-skilled hacker. From the article: 'To the media, the term “hacker” refers to a user who breaks into a computer system. To a programmer, “hacker” simply means a great programmer. In the corporate IT field, hackers are both revered as individuals who get a lot done without a lot of resources but feared as individuals who may be a little more “loose cannon” than your stock IT employee. Telling your CEO you want to hire a hacker may not be the best decision for an IT manager, but actually hiring one may be the best decision you can make.'"
Re:Quite obvious for security reasons (Score:4, Informative)
"To a programmer, “hacker” simply means a great programmer. "
I've been doing this since 1986. I have never, ever heard anyone, in a large company (10,000+) or small (11) one, call a great programmer a hacker. I have heard them call "hackers" irresponsible, self important jerks who have little regard for the fact that a company will out live the brief time of their employment and that those who follow will have to deal with their non-standard, obtuse, "brilliant" way of doing things.
It's not about You, it's about providing the infrastructure for the company to do business in a reliable and predictable fashion. All of the safeguards and practices developed over the years to provide stable systems, delivering accurate results argue implicitly against the romanticized definition of a hacker and certainly against the reality of your average hacker.