Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering

Re:Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Eng... by timr on Thursday December 03, 2009 @01:13PM (#974851)

"P2. Good programmers are up to 30 times better than mediocre programmers, according to "individual differences" research. Given that their pay is never commensurate, they are the biggest bargains in the software field."

P3. Good programmers are defined as those programmers that produce good products. If you focus only on coding speed or analytical skill, you may miss out on the best programmers.

P4. If you are paying your good programmer less than you know s/he is worth, count on them leaving soon. You will deserve the loss.

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Re:Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Eng... by mavelikara on Friday December 04, 2009 @03:48AM (#976028)

"Good programmers are up to 30 times better than mediocre programmers, according to "individual differences" research. Given that their pay is never commensurate ..."

Why is this a given? What are the forces which prevent the pay getting commensurate with ability? Is this unique to programming profession, or is this widely observed in other fields too?

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Re:Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Eng... by andrewbadera on Friday December 04, 2009 @04:49AM (#976080)

How many run of the mill $50k average-or-less developers or programmers do you know?

Now, how many $500,000 programmers do you know? Outside finserv quants & algos, not many. But THEY can make millions and tens of millions.

Unfortunately our industry tends to grant incremental compensation increases against geometric performance & value increases. Which is true in a lot of engineering fields. And the same can probably be said in design fields as well.

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