41–50 of 172 posts
1. Usually if you've demonstrated success for two years, you can move upwards more rapidly switching companies (up to a point).
2. You've gotten past your vesting cliff, and - particularly with early stage companies - you want to diversify your ISO holdings in the hope of getting a 100xer.
It's rare to also see these articles point out the immense pay discrepancy that can occur. Companies seem to want loyalty but they don't want to give it. This leads to the merc approach of just selling to the highest bidder.
In my experience while a developer will say it's not about the money, if the gap is big enough it is disrespectful to the developer and they will (easily) find employment elsewhere. Often time's it's not actually about the money. But the low pay (relatively) is a signal to the developer of how much / little you value them.
The people that say this simply rationalize it differently than people willing to say it is about the money. (but yes, there is a group where it really isn't about money)
There is a large segment of the population that feels a stigma for admitting monetary motivation, so if its not "ALL" about the money, where all possible factors are money, they will say it isn't.
People that don't feel a stigma around admitting monetary motivation will reveal that money is a factor if it is at least 1 of the factors. It will be misinterpreted by the other population as being only about the money, whether it is or isn't.
It is just a form of conditioning that will distort any survey for now.
Also - let the developers choose the work. We have a big todo list on the wall, and when a developer needs work, they can choose from the list. If a developer comes to me with a new idea, and it sounds viable, then I give them a bonus based on how well it executes. Everyone is incentivised and motivated to come up with new exciting projects. Smart developers want to create, so set them free! Autonomy, mastery, purpos…
This is much better advice than the whole article.
The article seems to be conveying vaguely that developers want advancement, interesting problems, etc. The problem with this phrasing is that it makes a manager think about placation strategies.
The root cause of the above is just poor tasking. If a senior developer says things need attention and keeps getting ignored, then how senior is the developer, really?
The advancement, engagement, product ownership, etc. all grow from a culture where strategic technical priorities aren't ultimately valued.
This looks like boredom or angst about "career progression" but you don't solve the problem by adding whiz-bang tech (gratuitous ML) or meaningless job titles.
I'm reading this and I just can't help but laugh. Let's say a company decides to do a "stay working here interview" and then the developer points out the things they would like to work on and the ideas they want to develop - things that they are interested in and excited. These ideas and work projects are going to be prevented because the organizational flaws are inherent in the company and pretty much unsolvable...…
I don't imagine people up the chai hear when good ideas are back-burnered too long or technical debt is ignored.
Also - let the developers choose the work. We have a big todo list on the wall, and when a developer needs work, they can choose from the list. If a developer comes to me with a new idea, and it sounds viable, then I give them a bonus based on how well it executes. Everyone is incentivised and motivated to come up with new exciting projects. Smart developers want to create, so set them free! Autonomy, mastery, purpos…
How do you handle boring unglamorous but important tasks?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dunno. I work for a company based in the UK, which seems to have much lower pay than the US. I am paid the same as other senior developers at the company, yet my salary by comparison to US standards is quite low ($70k and no benefits since I'm technically a contractor). Otherwise the company is really amazing, so I'm torn.
If you are actually in the UK, you have some amazing benefits that US-based folks don't get in the form of healthcare. I know, yes, technically, you're paying for it in taxes, but it's there for you all the time, regardless of your employment status or ability to pay for an insurance policy.
I can only assume that right now the best developers are vastly underpaid relative to their worth. Why? Because it turns out every time they get annoyed with their current company they can send out some feelers and get a 20% raise. Most people can't do that. Most teachers can't just quit and get a 20% raise yearly. Do this a few times and ultimately you realize that your intrinsic value didn't really increase 1.2^3 (72%) over the last 3 jobs, it's just that companies were always willing to pay more if they needed to, but (if you were being honest about current salary) only in increments of 20%.
If they were willing to pay more, you were worth it.
There are very very few companies that exist right now that give you crappy work but top notch comp for that work. For those companies, there is not a "huge retention problem", it's just a normal-sized retention problem where in addition to paying their developers based on value they also try to ensure they get to mix things up a bit and enjoy a conference or two.
Most companies don't want to pay for retention. It's pretty sad that most companies can't make staying at their current company more attractive than the risk of starting a new job with a team/company that's unknown.
What do hyper-productive teams look like these days? I've always been part of small teams, with only a few true workhorses, joined by other filler bodies. Productivity was mostly a mystery to management. I do not understand team sizes of 50+ for some web app product. The formula only requires a few (3) workhorses that make up a collaboration of skills in product design and engineering, and finding ways to keep them c…
Ah, if it were only that easy. You fight your way through a half-dozen interviews, get an offer, negotiate until you just want to lay down and die, make it through the six-month ramp-up for the new environment, and then you're bored again. Lather, rinse, repeat, until you realize that laying on the sofa in your underoos is more satisfying than the bestest employer.