21–30 of 71 posts
Programmers sit at their desk all day and work as part of a team, with little or no outside contact.
Businesses value people-skills more than anything IMO, that's why BAs and so on get a lot more money.
Because programmers don't ask for more money often enough. Seriously. Here's the three minute version of doing it: 1. Work hard on tangible stuff, document and claim credit for doing it, and notify people with what benefit the work provides . This sounds maybe stupidly obvious, but a lot of non-technical people don't understand the value in something. So, "Upgraded XYZ so our website loads faster, which is proven to…
I think it's a good idea to encourage everyone to try to get paid more, since (a) corporations make massively disproproportionate wealth relative to employees and (b) programmers are bad at the type of social and interpersonal skills that are required for negotiation. That said, as someone who has been through this, I think your advice is a naively optimistic oversimplification of the forces that hold programmers bac…
Depends on the corporation. Walmart only makes about $10,700/employee in profit, for example (about $6/hour if all employees work 35 hours). Since walmart typically pays $10-12/hour at minimum, employees are capturing about 2/3 of the value they create.
http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=financials&symbol=NYSE:WM...
Of course, the numbers will be wildly different at a software company. Most programmers don't capture anything like 2/3 of their created value.
I believe it's because it's far harder to find people with good people skills than find people with good technical skills. If you talk to people who hire/interview and manage people as their primary role, you will often hear them say that the candidates attitude/people skills is more important than their technical ability. If the candidate has good attitude/people skills, they can be taught (or will pick up on their…
I think this perception is due that if you are hiring someone with experience in software, you already perform a selection on who will apply, you'll typically get people with "some" technical skills so the people you'll see with people skills are the ones with some intersection of both.
Also good technical skills aren't that easy to discriminate in the length of an interview. Its much easier to discriminate people skills since you are putting people in a stressful situation that is all about dealing with people.
Finally, a lot of the people with both technical skills and some people skills will avoid widget factories type of environments. If they started out of college, they probably got a programming job in a widget place, their perspective is the lowly ranked employee, its unlikely they appreciated the experience in comparison. Once they found a more enjoyable position, they probably won't go back to that type of environment. They won't even apply.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a good idea to encourage everyone to try to get paid more, since (a) corporations make massively disproproportionate wealth relative to employees and (b) programmers are bad at the type of social and interpersonal skills that are required for negotiation. That said, as someone who has been through this, I think your advice is a naively optimistic oversimplification of the forces that hold programmers bac…
(a) corporations make massively disproproportionate wealth relative to employees... Depends on the corporation. Walmart only makes about $10,700/employee in profit, for example (about $6/hour if all employees work 35 hours). Since walmart typically pays $10-12/hour at minimum, employees are capturing about 2/3 of the value they create. http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=financials&symbol=NYSE:WM... Of course, the numbers…
Because programmers don't ask for more money often enough. Seriously. Here's the three minute version of doing it: 1. Work hard on tangible stuff, document and claim credit for doing it, and notify people with what benefit the work provides . This sounds maybe stupidly obvious, but a lot of non-technical people don't understand the value in something. So, "Upgraded XYZ so our website loads faster, which is proven to…
Negotiation and business analysis skills are all helpful, but if you find yourself needing them to be duly recognized for your contribution, your work situation is fundamentally flawed.
Of course, here I am making assumptions of my own, e.g. you are a top talent in your field with the freedom to pick your employer.
Not anywhere I've ever worked. Hmmm, makes me wonder about this meme... 1. Ask why a myth is true. 2. Discussion ensues. 3. The mythiness gets lost and is accepted as a given.
My responsibilities are to decide what we build and why. I'm also the shit umbrella for the developers, and end up having to speak with clients. Ultimately it's me who is held responsible for the success / failure of the product.
The myth of project / product people being paid more may be true in LargeCorp, Inc. but in Startup LLC., the developer is king.
I believe it's because it's far harder to find people with good people skills than find people with good technical skills. If you talk to people who hire/interview and manage people as their primary role, you will often hear them say that the candidates attitude/people skills is more important than their technical ability. If the candidate has good attitude/people skills, they can be taught (or will pick up on their…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a good idea to encourage everyone to try to get paid more, since (a) corporations make massively disproproportionate wealth relative to employees and (b) programmers are bad at the type of social and interpersonal skills that are required for negotiation. That said, as someone who has been through this, I think your advice is a naively optimistic oversimplification of the forces that hold programmers bac…
(a) corporations make massively disproproportionate wealth relative to employees... Depends on the corporation. Walmart only makes about $10,700/employee in profit, for example (about $6/hour if all employees work 35 hours). Since walmart typically pays $10-12/hour at minimum, employees are capturing about 2/3 of the value they create. http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=financials&symbol=NYSE:WM... Of course, the numbers…