How to reward skilled coders with something other than people management

Re:How to reward skilled coders with something other than pe... by michaelochurch on Saturday November 22, 2014 @06:59PM (#8647149)

It's even worse because you might code up a storm and not add any value. You might work a dead project and only loose the company money.

Very true. We have the value-add potential that, on paper, would justify upward of $700,000 per year. Unfortunately, most of us are managed ineptly and so much of that value is squandered. There are plenty of ways that the surplus generated by our talents could be spent (expansion, higher salaries) but right now it's wasted on a high tolerance for mismanagement.

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Re:How to reward skilled coders with something other than pe... by jshen on Sunday November 23, 2014 @01:13AM (#8647995)

I can summarize your point of view as, "pay me a million dollars and I'll blame others for the problems"

Who wants to hire that attitude?

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Re:How to reward skilled coders with something other than pe... by michaelochurch on Monday November 24, 2014 @10:00AM (#8652627)

With all due respect, you're interpreting what I say in the most negative light possible, and I don't think you understand the point that I'm trying to drive through.

Programmers can add immense value relative to the cost of employing them. There are many ways in which this surplus could be reinvested. Unfortunately, it tends to be invested in tolerance of mismanagement.

We're capable of adding value at 5x our base salary (and that's a low estimate; 20-100x is defensible) but this gives corporations an excuse to run us at ~20% efficiency.

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Re:How to reward skilled coders with something other than pe... by jshen on Monday November 24, 2014 @11:31AM (#8653115)

It sounds to me like the value is coming more from management than the programmer. After all, you admit that few people have the skill to deliver that value and the programmer can't deliver it themselves.

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Re:How to reward skilled coders with something other than pe... by michaelochurch on Wednesday November 26, 2014 @09:08AM (#8662314)

I would argue that many programmers can deliver that value directly. However, most corporate management filters get in the way.

The percentage of managers in technology/software who add more than they take away is small: maybe 5 percent. Another 15 percent or so are essentially neutral, and the other 80 percent do more damage than they add.

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Re:How to reward skilled coders with something other than pe... by jshen on Wednesday November 26, 2014 @08:59PM (#8665642)

Have you ever managed for than a few people?

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