Carrot and Stick: that doesn’t work on Programmers

Re:Carrot and Stick: that doesn’t work on Programmers by thinkingkong on Saturday January 07, 2017 @02:34PM (#13346085)

Carrot and stick does work. Dan's talk has more to do with extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation, but you can quite easily create a carrot and stick motivation by creating circumstances that allow someone to accomplish or chase after goals they're intrinsically motivated by.

If you're working at a company where the incentives are just cash bonuses based on awful metrics, then yeah that's an anti-pattern. But the basics of human instinct are the same across the broader set. Suggesting developers are unicorns is a little off-base.

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Re:Carrot and Stick: that doesn’t work on Programmers by christophilus on Saturday January 07, 2017 @06:21PM (#13347268)

Yeah. 100%. I love programming, but carrot and stick works big time on me. I'm staying at my current company despite being underpaid because:

- I work remotely - I get 1 workday per week to work on my hobby projects - I get 8 weeks paternity - I get 5 weeks paid vacation - I have great insurance through them - I have amazing coworkers, including every owner/boss/manager - It's a lifestyle company from top to bottom

I have friends making 1.5x my current salary, but I'm not switching to work for their companies because the carrots at my current gig outweigh a hefty outlay of $$$.

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