I don't know if I'm the "best", but I quit when I'm bored. That usually happens every 2.5-3 years. Money bump that comes with the new job is nice to have, but not the main reason why I leave. They offer more, I take it.
Why some of the best developers keep quitting
131–140 of 172 posts
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did, in fact, read the link, and I'm reacting to the condescending language used throughout. The unspoken attitude in the article is that the employee is a dirty traitor and a fool for wanting to move on. 'Shields down' is a telling choice of words because the manager feels that the employee is protected by being his . It's a patronizing, parental sort of attitude towards employees that irks me to no end. To pull a…
I agree that the author is condescending. Also, despite writing a lot on the subject, he doesn't actually seem to be a good manager. Very authoritarian.
He worked at Apple, a company known for a certain authoritarian tendency. (I like Rands' writings though.)
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you handle boring unglamorous but important tasks?
What do you think Juniors are for?
I fend generally "unglamorous but important tasks" are too difficult for most juniors and requires massive amounts of handholding.
Also I find it better to deploy juniors to glamorous tasks wherever possible. They benefit from the glamour to become self sufficient non-juniors.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you think Juniors are for?
I fend generally "unglamorous but important tasks" are too difficult for most juniors and requires massive amounts of handholding. Also I find it better to deploy juniors to glamorous tasks wherever possible. They benefit from the glamour to become self sufficient non-juniors.
Apologies, my comment was tongue in cheek but I agree anyway.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#135Why is money not discussed in this article? Yes you need to get raises >>3% to keep the best. You need a fast-lane for talent, in management as well as dev. If you don't have good people stay for a short time to get their next raise elsewhere.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate this approach to management. Why should I be "shielded" from a better opportunity? That only protects my manager, and gives me no valuable protection.
Translation: "I didn't read the link, here's a non sequitur." The "shield" is just your day-to-day (sometimes minute-to-minute) SELF-evaluation of your current job satisfaction and willingness to leave. It has nothing to do with you being shielded from anything by anyone else.
The problem is with the implied meaning.
Calling this mode "shields up" implicitly means that it's something good for you, protecting you - but it's not quite so, this "shield" is protecting the company/manager instead of you. The exact same thing might be called not "shields up" but "complacent mode" or "ignoring opportunity" for the opposite implied evaluation.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a theory that most people in the US are overpaid. However the overpayment is a strategy by management so that they themselves can be even more overpaid. This can be afforded because the overpaid people are locked into middle class life scripts driving up cost of living (houses) so that they are still reliant on the jobs. It's potential "fuck u" money but isn't because of the attractive force of a domain and re…
Your theory is not based upon sound economics. If everyone was colluding in the way you describe to pay themselves more, then a situation would emerge where companies that didn't comply with this conspiracy would be significantly more profitable than those that did. Note that, although managers may wish to throw money around because it's not theirs, shareholders view every penny spent on salaries as an expense that e…
On the contrary, it's mainstream economics that a lot of internal corporate decisions are made for the welfare of employees/managers rather than shareholders.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#138I quit mine 120k job because Im not dealing with any disrespect and or unfairness! For 3 months I tried to work out a situation with a co-worker but it was a constant fight with this jerk. Tried to get managements help, but no help or concern was provided. There's too much opportunity to deal with any B.S. no matter the money you are paying me...ok id deal with some if it paid $250k and the govt took zero.
Same for me. Much better in the long term. You only live once. Avoid psychopaths and bad managers like the plague.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> If you are actually in the UK, you have some amazing benefits that US-based folks don't get in the form of healthcare. So? That's pretty irrelevant since any good developer job in the US comes with excellent health coverage.
The healthcare that comes with any good developer job is the same healthcare that management thinks is good enough for their employees. It is rarely the case that it is good by objective standards.
Re: Why some of the best developers keep quitting
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ...let the developers choose the work... 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…
I work at a company where developers choose the work. It's complete pandemonium. Nobody is listening to the product managers, the technical leads are doing customer interviews, the incompetent senior engineers have created a terrible mess for everyone else to deal with (and then moved on to new projects to create another terrible mess). The biggest issue is that engineers, especially ICs, absolutely are not giving a…
"Let the devs choose the work" would seem to naturally imply that they must also complete and maintain their work. That would curb the tendencies you describe.