Now, I don't know what this guy's experiences with marketing have been, and I'm sorry if he's worked with amateurs who feel their "2 year associate degree" (his words, not mine) qualify them as gurus, mavens, experts, or lords of marketing. But the critique just doesn't stick when it comes to most of the outstanding marketing talent I have had the pleasure to work with.

Marketing and engineering will always be at odds, and the conflict can be healthy when managed appropriately and used constructively (there is a future blog post in that - jotting note to myself now). Yes, know-it-all marketers without technical knowledge can be dangerous. But in industrial and, in many cases, technology companies, many of the marketing team leaders have come up through engineering. I myself chose to leave the discipline because, as Steve puts it in his comments, I prefer to focus on solving problems for customers.

I wonder if this is the type of engineer who suffers from the "not-invented-here" mentality and closes their mind to customer feedback on what their real needs are, gets too wrapped up in product features without understanding how the customer values (or doesn't value) these features, and is more concerned about being the smartest one in the room instead of getting the business. As bright as you might be, you have a limited future as an engineer if you suffer from these maladies.

Just as I respect the role of engineering and recognize my limitations in my ability to perform their job, I'd expect the same courtesy of the engineers I work with to treat marketing as a professional discipline that requires specialized knowledge. Thank you.