⭐⭐⭐⭐ Developer Hegemony by Dietrich
| Full Title | Developer Hegemony: The Future of Labor |
|---|---|
| Authors | Erik Dietrich |
| Year Published | 2017 |
| Date Read | February 17, 2025 |
| Rating | 4/5 stars |
I was recommended this book a couple of times over the years but only got around to reading it now. The read was quite an engaging one; I thoroughly enjoy mental models of how we can think of power structures in the modern workplace. In this tome, Dietrich leans heavily on the structures as described in Rao’s Gervais Principle, re-naming them Opportunists, Idealists, and Pragmatists (terminology that I prefer to Rao’s). I thought at first that this would be one of the structures he peruses, but actually, it ends up being the only one discussed in the book. This reliance makes the work primarily derivative and less original.
Dietrich’s insights later in the book, on how to ultimately become an Opportunists from the other two classes, are his primary original contribution. I thought that there were some interesting ideas here, but I didn’t fully buy into his concept of “efficiencer firms” whos primary purpose is automation. Sure, this can be applied to many businesses that one might start after formal employment (especially in the consulting space). However, I don’t think this framing fits businesses that sell a service / product very well. This was tough for me because that’s the direction I am most interested in.
Some of the other concepts would have been groudbreaking to stumble upon in college / early employment, but not so revolutionary for me at this stage of my life (mid-career technologist). I thought of many parallels to Fisker’s Early Retirement Extreme, which I actually did read shortly after graduating college. They have some cool overlaps.
Ultimately I still think this book deserves quite a good rating, and believe that most software engineers (and knowledge workers in adjacent categories) would benefit from reading it.