Motivation of software professionals
in [Java Programming]
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From: Dirk Bruere at NeoPax on 8 Feb 2010 13:30 Lew wrote: > MarkusSchaber wrote: >>> 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. > > Dirk Bruere at NeoPax wrote: >> I once joked with an employer that if he paid me twice as much I would >> only have to work half as long :-) > > Given that nearly nobody gives a perfect working environment, or even > close, money is the primary distinguisher. As a contract worker, I've > seen a few dozen IT workplaces. The grass is never greener. Offer me > twice as much compensation as the other potential employer and my > talents are yours to exploit. > > It's not that money is the motivator. The question is leading and > extremely ill cast. I don't depend on anyone else for my motivation. > Money is the decider; it decides whether and where I work. It doesn't > determine how. > > To get meaningful answers, the survey would have to ask meaningful > questions. > Some places you go, however, you never want to return. They are real tech sweatshop hellholes with everyone looking for a new job. Last place like that I was at the boss said: "This project is behind schedule and if it is not on time heads will roll. I am now off on holiday". I suspect he returned to an empty office. -- 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: Ian Collins on 8 Feb 2010 13:32 Malcolm McLean wrote: > On Feb 8, 1:43 am, James Kanze <james.ka...(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. >> > Strictly a "professional" is someone who is a member of a professional > body which regulates itself and has the right to control entry to the > profession. In some contexts maybe, but golf and cricket clubs had their "professional" long before anyone thought of developing software. It isn't the term "professional" that has been bastardised, it's "Engineer". -- Ian Collins
From: Dirk Bruere at NeoPax on 8 Feb 2010 13:34 Malcolm McLean wrote: > On Feb 8, 1:43 am, James Kanze <james.ka...(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. >> > Strictly a "professional" is someone who is a member of a professional > body which regulates itself and has the right to control entry to the > profession. For instnace I can't simply buy scalpels and antiseptic > and set myself up as a brain surgeon - I have to go throguh the > British Medical Association before they'll let me chop people up. the > same is true for lawyers, accountants, and some other more obscure > niches. > > Most people aren't professionals, and the word has become misused to > mean 'skilled workers with high standards'. Bascially employers want > the advantages of professional status without conferring on their > employees the control that is the natural concomitant. > > Computer programmers are rarely professionals in the true sense, but > ususally professional in the bastardised sense of the term. Come to Britain where we have "boffins" or occasionally "eggheads" and where the gas company will send round an engineer to fix your appliance. Or, if he cannot manage it, a technician (yes - that's what they really said). -- 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: Seebs on 8 Feb 2010 13:46 On 2010-02-08, Dirk Bruere at NeoPax <dirk.bruere(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Some places you go, however, you never want to return. > They are real tech sweatshop hellholes with everyone looking for a new > job. Last place like that I was at the boss said: "This project is > behind schedule and if it is not on time heads will roll. I am now off > on holiday". I suspect he returned to an empty office. I should hope so! Last time we had a thing behind schedule, the management sent out a request that we put in extra time to bring it on schedule. They had already cut product specs in a few key places to try to make things better, and they told us they'd make it good if we helped them out. We had very close to 24/7 management coverage, and they helped out as much as they could. And yes, we made the deadline, and they rewarded us suitably. The primary motivation there wasn't the money, it was the visible demonstration that the management felt it was their problem more than ours that the schedule had been wrong. (Note the emphasis; it was not that we were behind the schedule, it was that the schedule was, empirically, wrong.) -s -- Copyright 2010, all wrongs reversed. Peter Seebach / usenet-nospam(a)seebs.net http://www.seebs.net/log/ <-- lawsuits, religion, and funny pictures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology) <-- get educated!
From: Martin Gregorie on 8 Feb 2010 18:18
On Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:32:01 +1300, Ian Collins wrote: > > In some contexts maybe, but golf and cricket clubs had their > "professional" long before anyone thought of developing software. It > isn't the term "professional" that has been bastardised, it's > "Engineer". > That's easy: anybody who isn't a member of a recognised engineering society should not be called an engineer and should be laughed out of town if they call themselves one. -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org | |