Motivation of software professionals
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From: Alf P. Steinbach on 7 Feb 2010 19:25 * James Kanze: > On Feb 5, 12:39 pm, Anthony Williams <anthony....(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Richard Cornford <Rich...(a)litotes.demon.co.uk> writes: >>> On Feb 5, 11:19 am, Stefan Kiryazov wrote: > >>>> I am doing a research about motivation in software >>>> development, the most efficient practices to motivate >>>> software engineers, their popularity, etc. > >>> Strange question; the most efficient motivator of >>> professionals is money, and money is very popular. > >> Whilst people like money, it's not necessary the most >> efficient motivator. Developers also like interesting, >> challenging, varied work, work with new technologies, flexible >> hours, freedom to do what they feel is technically best >> without being hampered by management dictat and many other >> things. > > Amongst other things. Two of the most important motivaters are > peer approval and admiration, and personal satisfaction with the > results. I agree. But strangely, one thing that motivates me is apparent peer disapproval. For in many social environments (last week or so there was a damning report about this kind of environment at the University of Oslo, happily I'm not there) the art of put-down'ing and dissing is key to personal success. When someone else does something really good then put-down'ing becomes necessary and the default response. Thus, when I get critique that has more emotional impact than technical I concentrate on the technical points. Then, interpreting those more technical points in a kind of inverse-picture way, I know what's good. Of course, that's part of the personal satisfaction motivation, but I think it's interesting that personal satisfaction, knowing that you've created something good, in some/many environments can be directly incompatible with peer approval. And for me personal satisfaction weights more. Peer approval would in most cases just say that I'm conforming, which is not something that I'd be proud of; it's something I strive to avoid. But in some cases approval is really nice. E.g., a few times you've stated that I'm pretty good, or words to that effect, which coming from someone that one respects is uplifting in a way; likewise, once, many years ago, I had a dispute with one very well-known C++ expert over in clc++m and wrote some things that I really shouldn't have, the mod apologized for accepting the article by saying that he didn't read closely because it was two "C++ experts" discussing things, and that helped much, otherwise I might have stopped posting... :-) Cheers, - Alf
From: Malcolm Dew-Jones on 7 Feb 2010 18:44 James Kanze (james.kanze(a)gmail.com) wrote: : On Feb 5, 3:14 pm, Patricia Shanahan <p...(a)acm.org> wrote: : [...] : > That said, by definition professionals are, to some extent, in : > it for the money. If they were not, they would be amateurs as : > I am now. How that is balanced against interesting work, : > physical working conditions, status, etc. varies. : I'm not sure if the word "professional" has the same conotations : in English as it does in French, but from the French meaning, I : don't think you can be truely a "professional" if you're only in : it for the money. "Professional" implies being paid for what : you do, but it also implies a certain degree of personal : standards with regards to quality and such---a "professional" : will take pride in his work. In English also, "professional" implies "a certain degree of personal standards with regards to quality and such". As with many words the different facets of its meaning can appear to be both ambiguous and contradictory, but I think that in the long run being "professional" in the sense of earning money requires "professional"ism in behaviour (and vice versa), so ultimately the meaings do not conflict (even though they can in the short term). $0.10
From: Dirk Bruere at NeoPax on 7 Feb 2010 21:18 MarkusSchaber wrote: > On 5 Feb., 13:23, Richard Cornford <Rich...(a)litotes.demon.co.uk> > wrote: >> On Feb 5, 11:19 am, Stefan Kiryazov wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> I am doing a research about motivation in software development, >>> the most efficient practices to motivate software engineers, >>> their popularity, etc. >> Strange question; the most efficient motivator of professionals is >> money, [...] > > This was proven wrong by Science. Read Bruce Eckels excellent blog > entries about this topic, he always references relliable sources on > this subject. Depends. Right now I am primarily motivated by money, or at least the lack of it. -- Dirk http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK http://www.theconsensus.org/ - A UK political party http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
From: MarkusSchaber on 8 Feb 2010 02:15 Hi, Dirk, On 8 Feb., 03:18, Dirk Bruere at NeoPax <dirk.bru...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >>> I am doing a research about motivation in software development, > >>> the most efficient practices to motivate software engineers, > >>> their popularity, etc. > >> Strange question; the most efficient motivator of professionals is > >> money, [...] > > This was proven wrong by Science. Read Bruce Eckels excellent blog > > entries about this topic, he always references relliable sources on > > this subject. > Depends. > Right now I am primarily motivated by money, or at least the lack of it. I won't dispute that money is a motivator, but it is not the most efficient motivator. The more money you pay, the more you will attract those developers which are purely after the money, and not the really good ones. For the latter ones, a certain level on the paycheck is enough to give attention to fun, excitement, atmosphere and such factors.
From: Dirk Bruere at NeoPax on 8 Feb 2010 07:52
MarkusSchaber wrote: > Hi, Dirk, > > On 8 Feb., 03:18, Dirk Bruere at NeoPax <dirk.bru...(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> I am doing a research about motivation in software development, >>>>> the most efficient practices to motivate software engineers, >>>>> their popularity, etc. >>>> Strange question; the most efficient motivator of professionals is >>>> money, [...] >>> This was proven wrong by Science. Read Bruce Eckels excellent blog >>> entries about this topic, he always references relliable sources on >>> this subject. >> Depends. >> Right now I am primarily motivated by money, or at least the lack of it. > > I won't dispute that money is a motivator, but it is not the most > efficient motivator. The more money you pay, the more you will attract > those developers which are purely after the money, and not the really > good ones. For the latter ones, a certain level on the paycheck is > enough to give attention to fun, excitement, atmosphere and such > factors. I once joked with an employer that if he paid me twice as much I would only have to work half as long :-) -- Dirk http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK http://www.theconsensus.org/ - A UK political party http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show |