Why programmers are not paid in proportion to their productivity
The most productive programmers are orders of magnitude more productive than their usual colleagues. However, the salary range usually has a small variation in any company. Even in the whole profession, the level of income does not differ much. If some programmers are a dozen times more productive than others, why don't they get as many times more?
Joel Spolsky gave several answers to this question in one of his podcasts . First, the productivity of programmers is extremely different within the framework of the profession, but this variation may not be in a particular company. Someone who is 10 times more productive for their colleagues will most likely leave to work with other talented developers, or open their own business. Secondly, high performance is not always obvious. Let us consider in more detail the second option.
How can someone being 10 times more productive than comrades can go unnoticed? In some professions such a difference will be obvious. A seller who sells 10 times more will be awarded and rewarded accordingly. Sales are easy to measure. Any seller will earn orders more money than others. If a bricklayer worked 10 times more efficiently than his colleagues, it would also be obvious, but this does not happen: the best bricklayers cannot lay 10 times more bricks than the average worker. Software production cannot be measured as easily as money or bricks. The best programmer will not write 10 times more lines of code, and most certainly he will not work 10 times longer.
Programmers are most effective when they avoid writing code. They can understand that the problem they are asked to solve does not need to be solved; that the client doesn't really want what they are being asked for. They can find out where to find pieces of code that can be used to suit their needs. They can be cunning. But just when they are most productive, no one will say: “Wow! You have just worked 100 times more efficiently than if you had solved the problem "head on." You deserve a raise. ”At best, you can hear something like“ Good Thought! ”It may be some time before you realize that someone regularly offers time-saving ideas. Or, to speak from a negative point of view, it may take considerable time for someone to understand - some people are passionately writing code, but do not produce anything.
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The romantic image of a superprogrammer is someone who runs Emacs, who types at an automaton queue speed and gives a flawless final product from scratch. A more accurate picture depicts someone who will peer into the void for a few minutes, and then say, “Hmm, I think I’ve seen something like that somewhere before.”
Joel Spolsky gave several answers to this question in one of his podcasts . First, the productivity of programmers is extremely different within the framework of the profession, but this variation may not be in a particular company. Someone who is 10 times more productive for their colleagues will most likely leave to work with other talented developers, or open their own business. Secondly, high performance is not always obvious. Let us consider in more detail the second option.
How can someone being 10 times more productive than comrades can go unnoticed? In some professions such a difference will be obvious. A seller who sells 10 times more will be awarded and rewarded accordingly. Sales are easy to measure. Any seller will earn orders more money than others. If a bricklayer worked 10 times more efficiently than his colleagues, it would also be obvious, but this does not happen: the best bricklayers cannot lay 10 times more bricks than the average worker. Software production cannot be measured as easily as money or bricks. The best programmer will not write 10 times more lines of code, and most certainly he will not work 10 times longer.
Programmers are most effective when they avoid writing code. They can understand that the problem they are asked to solve does not need to be solved; that the client doesn't really want what they are being asked for. They can find out where to find pieces of code that can be used to suit their needs. They can be cunning. But just when they are most productive, no one will say: “Wow! You have just worked 100 times more efficiently than if you had solved the problem "head on." You deserve a raise. ”At best, you can hear something like“ Good Thought! ”It may be some time before you realize that someone regularly offers time-saving ideas. Or, to speak from a negative point of view, it may take considerable time for someone to understand - some people are passionately writing code, but do not produce anything.
')
The romantic image of a superprogrammer is someone who runs Emacs, who types at an automaton queue speed and gives a flawless final product from scratch. A more accurate picture depicts someone who will peer into the void for a few minutes, and then say, “Hmm, I think I’ve seen something like that somewhere before.”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/96140/
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