The Secret to Keeping Software Engineers On Your Payroll

Posted by Jim Stroud

July 12, 2007

Something to keep in mind as retention becomes an increasingly important issue in the war for talent.

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I will start with a question, if you have a spare £400 in your development budget do you A) Reward your star programmer with a £400 bonus or B) Buy him a 24 Inch 1920×1200 LCD screen?

If you answered ‘A’ then you need to read on. If you answered ‘B’ then you understand what motivates programmers but I suggest you still read on and comment later if you have any ideas beyond what I cover.

One of the things that they never teach non-programmer managers is how to motivate programmers. You may think the programmers are motivated by the same things as the rest of your staff, you are WRONG. Programmers tend to be counted within the higher IQ brackets and are therefore harder typically to second guess.

Tim Bryce writes:

“Regardless of the image they wish to project, the average programmer does not have a higher IQ than any other worker with a college degree. In fact, they may even be lower.”

This article is worth reading just to get a view of someone who does not understand programmers at all. And should certainly not be attempting to write about how to manage them with views like the above.

The average programmer may be projecting an image of superiority but non-programmers miss-read this and think it is aimed at them. It is not. You have to understand that programmers rate themselves against other programmers not against anyone else.

This is important when making any decision about how to reward them. If you purchase some new equipment for your sales staff the likely reaction will be … nothing. If you purchase new equipment for your programming staff they will immediately start analyzing who has got what and by reference who is being rewarded more than others based upon the quality of the equipment. If you think this is not relevant think again.

READ: What motivates programmers?