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Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

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Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#81

Post by tessro »

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #9

Working on boring things, in addition to random revisions of boring things will suck the soul right out of you. This is why you shouldn't make bad financial or life decisions which enslave you to a high paying, soul-sucking job. God help you if you're not getting paid.

There is also significant psychological research linking depression with an external locus of control. (For example, Benassi, et al; 1988)

Personally, having sweated a high-paying job for "the man" for a few years and feeling increasingly burdened by it, I was a bit surprised by the number of upvotes for comments about money being the most important factor. I would happily take a pay cut for an opportunity to develop expertise and to take control over my work. (Which, in a sense, is what entrepreneurship purports to offer -- along with high blood pressure.)

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#82

Post by yummyfajitas »

pw0ncakes wrote: post #24
warfangle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expound upon why government mismanagement of the property market has caused NYC's absurd median rent? Or, at the very least, point me towards an interesting/insightful article on the subject? Thanks!

The problem isn't anything that the local government did, but what it didn't do. There are a lot of steps that could have been taken to lower the rent and property prices. For example, one measure is disallowing anyone to own property in New York that they don't live in at least 6 months plus 1 day. (The same is true of rent control, since a lot of RC people now live out of the city but keep the apartment because it'…

...disallowing anyone to own property in New York that they don't live in at least 6 months plus 1 day...

Near as I can tell, this would drive up the price of rentals quite significantly. Any landlord would need to factor the risk of getting caught being a landlord into your rent.

I like your second idea of punishing people who are not part of my tribe.

By the way, a more realistic way to lower rent prices would be to end rent control. One could also move the projects out to distant brooklyn/queens, and rent the projects out at market rates.

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#83

Post by yummyfajitas »

wallflower wrote: post #73
pw0ncakes wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, of course. People who recently lost jobs or were working for bootstrapped startups would get an exemption.

Doesn't NYC have the strictest renting laws? For example, you have to prove you make 52x the monthly rent to sign a lease. Obviously, sublets are a way around that income floor.

Most landlords will not rent to you if you don't make 40x monthly rent, but it is not a legal requirement.

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#84

Post by heresy »

angelbob wrote: post #75
Tichy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds as if you are not 30 yet. Maybe your outlook will change when you get older. I don't know the conditions in the US, though. I suppose houses are cheap for one thing (by now).

Houses are decently cheap, rent is cheap in most places (not Silicon Valley). The US is overall not a terribly expensive place to live, if you don't want to be in Manhattan, Hollywood or Silicon Valley. Being a decent software engineer, your raises can outpace inflation pretty handily though I'm pretty sure I'm not managing 10% annually over my career. My salary is 2.3 times what it was when I started, about 12 years…

You must have started at a decent salary...

I'm earning 8 times more than I did when I started, also 12 years ago (six figures now). Though to be fair, I didn't have a degree when I started and began in tech support.

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#85

Post by heresy »

ajju wrote: post #52
mattwdelong wrote: post #51

So I think a good portion of us agree that this article is somewhat bullshit, and the consensus is "pay me what I am worth, dammit!". Fair enough, but what would you rather and which would motivate you more? A decent salary + big performance bonus or a high salary and no bonus? Even at the end of the year, if they were equal it is my thought that a decent salary + large bonus would seem more rewarding, psychologicall…

In the absence of politics, with a guarantee of a fair boss, and if [(decent salary+bonus) > high salary] this would be true. As things stand, and people being people, I (and most people, I think) would prefer the high salary, especially if the two figures equal. Really, who would prefer (X-10)+p*(10) where p lies between 0 and 1 over X?

Bonuses are the first thing to go at the slightest hint of any sort of economic wobble in the macro-environment.

Unless you have it locked in, very explicitly, in writing - fuck the bonus, give me higher base.

I worked at a company with a bonus scheme, which seemed groovy in the first year I was there.

From year 2 till year 5 (when I quit), I did not see even a whiff of a bonus, despite knocking my perf. reviews out of the park. It was always canceled because of some external factors.

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#86

Post by sgift »

Isamu wrote: post #40

I have never asked for much, or pushed for raises. I was motivated by other things and figured hey, my managers are good guys, they'll do what's right. Turns out that when you discover you've been lower paid for years than some complaining bozo, it can be demoralizing. Or motivating - to get another job. Pay is another aspect of recognition.

The (sometimes unspoken) assumption in such articles is that you are paid fairly. So, basically, each of them needs a disclaimer in the first line "This is not a guide to cheat people. If you don't pay them fairly the following advices won't cut it."

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#87

Post by roel_v »

ido wrote: post #72
Tichy wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not have to think much about expenses either. But did you plan to buy a house, or start a company? That is, have you tried to get significant savings on the side? Also, how old are you? I think when young, one doesn't really have a feeling for how much money one might need in the long run. Alone, I don't need more than maybe a 30m^2 flat. I don't crave any luxuries (except a fast computer+internet). Once family…

I'm 26, living alone in a 3 bedroom apartment, there is no need for a car in Vienna and higher education is free here ;) My burn rate is about 18k a year. When earning 35k Euros per year I managed to save a bit less than 1/3 of my nett salary (taxes + social & medical insurance added up to about 30% (not counting tax refunds I got at the end of the year), which I think is lower than I would have payed in Germany). I'…

Are these numbers (the 35k and 45k) before or after taxes?

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#88

Post by ido »

roel_v wrote: post #87
ido wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 26, living alone in a 3 bedroom apartment, there is no need for a car in Vienna and higher education is free here ;) My burn rate is about 18k a year. When earning 35k Euros per year I managed to save a bit less than 1/3 of my nett salary (taxes + social & medical insurance added up to about 30% (not counting tax refunds I got at the end of the year), which I think is lower than I would have payed in Germany). I'…

Are these numbers (the 35k and 45k) before or after taxes?

Before taxes.

They are equivalent to a bit under $50k and a bit over $60k.

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#89

Post by pw0ncakes »

wallflower wrote: post #73
pw0ncakes wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, of course. People who recently lost jobs or were working for bootstrapped startups would get an exemption.

Doesn't NYC have the strictest renting laws? For example, you have to prove you make 52x the monthly rent to sign a lease. Obviously, sublets are a way around that income floor.

It's 40x, but it's not a legal requirement, and if you can get a "guarantor" making 80x, you can circumscribe that, so the parentally-funded unproductives who are ruining this city get a pass.

Re: Top Motivators For Developers (Hint: not money)

#90

Post by mclin »

cageface wrote: post #17

I was actually trained in chemistry but I left the field and got into software development for two reasons: 1. By and large, it's a meritocracy. Your degree matters a lot less than the quality of your code. 2. Two people in a garage can still make an impact. Most other technical fields require large teams and big budgets to explore. A single good developer can make a huge impact and seeing my work make a big differen…

I left chemistry too, but more because I couldn't handle the pressure of being able to accidentally destroy 2 weeks work with a slip of the hand.

It takes balls to be a chemist.

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