Learning from the Cat
There are two distinctive groups in my job: tech and everyone else. The split was clear before and now more so since the company received external investment. There was a lot of hiring, and the need for a new space made management rent out the floor above ours and move the entire tech team (product, DevOps, infrastructure, etc...) upstairs.
On the floor below lies sales, customer success, marketing, and project management. The bulk of people downstairs work in sales.
Much like Conway's Law states that software design & architecture reflects the organization, due to the nature of the roles and the kind of people that flock to them, downstairs is a little bit more fast-paced, intense, and "angsty", and upstairs we're a tad more laid-back, quieter, humorous, and more "natural". This is neither a good nor bad thing.
My boss is an amazing hacker with unbelievably broad and detailed knowledge about any topic remotely related to tech. When I interviewed with him, he told me he was mainly interested in Distributed Computing and Data Engineering, but I have heard him tackle topics such as systems architecture, language design, database design, and query optimization... he even has an opinion about information architecture, front-end design, and CSS. I am in awe of his level of skill and knowledge.
His demeanor is that of a mature (late forties) but very lively guy, always with a smile on his face and child-like laughter, very approachable. He gets along with everyone in the office, and there is no tension between him and other developers. However, underneath all the grinning and relentless optimism, one can sense the depth of his authority and reach. He has strong opinions and states them clearly; he can convince anyone to his ideas.
The other day, neither my boss nor the other developer with the highest seniority were in the office. The other developers are far from their level of experience and responsibility, and despite having many years of software experience under my belt, I don't have any other people under management in this company, rendering myself at the same level as the other developers.
With this in mind, the other workers in the office (mostly people in their late twenties) weren't as productive, spending way more time chatting and joking without direct oversight from our boss. A friendly wolf among sheep, so to speak.
The old saying came to mind while I was trying to concentrate and get work done amidst the office noise: "When the cat is away, the mice will play".
There is nothing wrong with relaxing if the boss is not there to oversee your work. What I'd like to note is the stark difference between these two scenarios.
I don't know if I want to reach that level of responsibility in my life because that entails an amount of working hours I might not be willing to commit to in my late forties, but I aspire to instill the profound respect he commands in others.