8 ms·

Ask HN: What does your company do to keep you motivated other than pay?

Personally a lot of my motivation comes from my company's culture and personal alignment with the company's vision and mission.

TenOhms 10y ago
My company's culture (large multi-national) demotivates me and their PR-speak vision and mission statements mean less than nothing to me. Am I weird?
- jotato 10y ago
  Nope. I couldn't care less about our "vision" or whatever management is calling it now. I am at my employer under a "business" relationship. In exchange for my experience, time, and expertise, I will accept a salary. Don't try to rope me into "loyalty" or say we are a "family". We aren't - end of story.
  - silentcylon 10y ago
    Do you ever wish to work on something that hits more personally for you? Would that motivate you more than just the pay?
    - jotato 10y ago
      I have. If I truly believe in the "product" and am treated like I am an owner and not a minion than it is different. edit by owner, I don't mean of the company; rather the product. I find developers spend most of their time in the app and know when something works or doesn't. They can have a "hunch" when a feature is off, or the experience is wrong. being empowered to make decisions and tweaks without someone else getting upset is invaluable
      - zeal-technology 10y ago
        I would whole heartily agree with this. I see a lack of company delegation and trust to give Ownership over to its people when those people are full well, if not more than the company, able to make the important decisions. Ownership and Owning it, whatever it may be (project, product, architecture, etc) is important to driving self improvement for people and advancing their careers. I think it is great that you acknowledge this and feel this way. I hope that your company realizes it and values your drive, opinions, and decisions.
    - losteric 10y ago
      Personally, it's about ownership. I'm an independent contributor, a dev. I don't own my employer's business beyond some token stocks. They give me value in the form of money because I give them more value through my work. It's ultimately prostitution, and that's OK. They pay me well and respect my time/skills, I give them 100% for 8h day. But I won't go "above and beyond" for someone else's business...
  - tbirrell 10y ago
    Exactly this, I always know in the back of my mind that even if I drank the company kool-aid, they would drop me in a heartbeat if it benefited them.
- akyu 10y ago
  No you're human.
- strictnein 10y ago
  As someone also employed in a large multinational, I always enjoy the mass emails that detail the cool conventions that are being held in Vegas or <other nice locale> that thousands of my non-technical coworkers get to attend.
  - zeal-technology 10y ago
    Attending events and networking is a great way for people to get out and change up the pace of work life and learn something new. I think that this is not done nearly as often as I would like it to happen. Especially in the tech world where things are changing at such a fast rate.
  - kzisme 10y ago
    The one thing I dislike is that sales departments are treated like gold in some instances ie: sales rallies, bonuses, contests, free vacations, cars. Where as IT/Tech departments miss out on a lot of those.
    - zeal-technology 10y ago
      Do you think it would behoove a company to reward its other teams like it does its sales teams?
      - kzisme 10y ago
        I suppose - I just find it strange that most of the IT initiatives directly support the success of a business, and when the company sends the top 10 producing sales team members to a free Caribbean trip, and buy luxury cars for others for a year I'm sure they could shell out something for other teams rather than buying a pizza or lunch every so often. This is just an observation as well, so I could be completely incorrect in my thinking.
        zeal-technology 10y ago
        Its a great observation and one that I think has struck many people. I would be interested in hearing a sales person and development person put their views on the table about the subject so we could see both sides and compare motivators between the two roles.
- mhurron 10y ago
  Nope, I'm here just for the pay. The PR is all bullshit. I've also worked at small places. It's the same thing, I'm there for the pay, nothing else.
  - maccard 10y ago
    If I'm going to spend 40+ hours somewhere for a meaningful amount of time (1 year+), the happier I can make myself there the better. I like my co workers, my workplace treats me with respect, they're flexible, we work on interesting projects, nice office locations, a comfortable environment.
    - silentcylon 10y ago
      Personally I would love to travel and work remotely (building up towards that) and the flexibility and comfort for me means being able to accomplish other things in my life that I want to do while working. Like travel across the world and see new places. If there is enough trust and flexibility I could see myself doing that for the rest of my life.
- dozzie 10y ago
  Vision and mission have any significance if they reflect how the company owner wants to live. If a company grows large enough to get the middle management caste, vision and mission become meaningless.
- JBlue42 10y ago
  Nope. I'm at a small company (100+ employees) and the Powers That Be talk a good talk but don't walk the walk.
silentcylon 10y ago
I think one of the more motivating things I have seen is to understand that people are giving the majority of their time to the company throughout the day and the year. A company that can become a part of an employees life and not have its employees dedicate their life to the company is a big feat. I have seen this achieved by a company that gives proper flexibility for employees so that work fits into their lives and not the other way around. Such as when you do your work is less important than how well you do your work. Or where you work is irrelevant if you collaborate well. I think companies in general should provide more opportunities to explore and experience the world to their people than they do today.
thetest3r 10y ago
I work for a religious university (so the pay is meh). I would say that it's the relaxed culture in IT (I can come in any time between 8-9), good benefits, and free classes. You're supposed to use the free classes to work on your masters but I use it to take the "fun" classes you can't during a normal college run. And the boss is okay with it :D!
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  That is really cool! Any kind of learning experience to better yourself tends to be a really good motivator. People tend to feel stagnant and want a change if their job is the same over and over and they are not learning anything new or being challenged.
aeharding 10y ago
Core hours, WFH day (Thursday team works from home, although you can take other days on a non-regular basis), 40 hours per week max set by boss. Treating me like an adult with a life outside of work, basically.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  I think that mutual respect and trust between boss and you is really important to feeling comfortable with work. It is painful to see some bosses become extremely stuck in their ways and think everyone works the same way. That time working from where you want can be extremely thought provoking and provide those who need it, a change of pace.
- strictnein 10y ago
  Why Thursday for a WFH day instead of Friday? Just curious.
  - jdpigeon 10y ago
    Don't WFH days feel the best when they're in the middle of the week? That way they break up the 'daily grind' feeling and give you the opportunity for deep work right in the middle of a weekly sprint.
  - aeharding 10y ago
    No reason in particular, but I like it because it breaks the work-from-work week up. The important thing is that the whole team is WFH the same day so we can depend on other days for meetings and whatnot, and nobody feels left out when they are WFH.
  - chipperyman573 10y ago
    Probably so it's not treated as a weekend, and so that any issues that arise can be discussed on Friday.
cle 10y ago
Every few months we (the developers) are given a week of freedom to build/learn whatever we want (within reason). It is so refreshing, and every time I grow so much faster than when slogging along the rest of the time, and we often invent novel technology that adds a ton of value.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  This is really cool! You see this more in video game companies to spur thoughts and creativity and improve each other. Do you guys team up at all ever to work on new ideas? Out of the new things you learn and build how have they benefited your career? And have they helped in your work for the company?
  - cle 10y ago
    Most people team up. I usually spend my time exploring new technologies and new paradigms to help simplify our stack. I've been doing it for a few years, and many of our foundational services and technologies came directly out of these free weeks. A lot of people take it as an opportunity to solve annoying problems that we don't have time to solve "on sprint". Definitely helped my career, because I can focus on building skills that I personally want to develop, in addition to building something ambitious without worrying about failure.
st3v3r 10y ago
Not a whole lot, actually. The people I work with are fun. I could totally be done with working on this project, though.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  Have you asked your employer to set a new project, something challenging for you in the future? Maybe they are willing to switch things up to keep you happy?
jtwaleson 10y ago
Nothing, and that's great. Something I really enjoy about my current 250 people company is how many things are not arranged properly or at all. This gives me many opportunities to step up, identify issues and address them with management teams etc. I had the opportunity to join Facebook a couple of years ago for much better pay and moving to the Bay Area (a long time dream) but decided not to do it for mainly the reason above, as well as alignment with the company mission (which is creating a product that solves problems, not creating free services and running ads like Google/FB). Edit: "nothing" as stated above is a hyperbole. Actually there are many things that the company does or allows that make it a great place to work. What I like most is to help improving it further.
- silentcylon 10y ago
  What process to you use to improve it further? Do you test things out a lot. How do you know what you implement is working?
cableshaft 10y ago
By having an immediate boss that's very nice, knowledgeable about tech, and flexible, and gotten lucky about hiring a pretty solid group of employees. But that only goes so far. The money isn't really where I want to be, the work isn't too interesting anymore, and I don't see much room for advancement, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll stay here. Company vision and mission statements mean very little to me, since they're almost always meaningless crap to put on a letterhead and not much more. Oh, also my commute is just over 15 minutes. That's nice too. I can stop by the house for lunch sometimes and see my puppy. So that helps.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  It sounds like not providing a way or opportunity to advance your knowledge and career is hurting you and your culture. Do you think you would stay if your employer would provide more opportunities to work on newer projects or more cutting edge stuff?
  - silentcylon 10y ago
    I know for me that if I am not learning new tech or driving something that really motivates me forward every month than I become antsy and look for new things I can learn.
  - cableshaft 10y ago
    No, probably not. They're really not aligned with the type of work I'm trying to get back into. I'm wanting to get back into mobile or move into VR space, and they're making web and phone apps for healthcare and insurance companies. I don't see that getting aligned ever. I am actually learning new things and working on new projects right now, that might keep me a bit longer, but not too long. I'm not in a hurry to leave, but I'm starting to reboot and refresh my knowledge in the other fields again.
    - silentcylon 10y ago
      I know for me that I broke off into my own side projects and contracting work that interested me. I found that being able to tackle a contract that I want or a side project that could possibly bring me some money in or teach me some new things has kept me on the tip of my toes.
ceejayoz 10y ago
Pay well?
switch007 10y ago
A boss with a deep technical background, who has read Peopleware and embraced it, whom you trust, who'll admit fault, and works to enable you to do your best. One can dream!
- silentcylon 10y ago
  A boss who can push me technically and is always helping me advance my career was huge for me. I know that has been the case with many people I have talked to. If you are not helping your team or co-workers to better themselves than they are not going to feel motivation from you.
Klathmon 10y ago
We are treated like adults. We work from home 4 days a week, we are more than free to go run errands or something if we need to, we have the freedom to spend some time on learning or on a "side project" which could help the company, some people have even gone over on vacation time with no issues, some people start at 7AM and cut out early, others start at 10 or 11 and leave later. As long as your shit gets done and you are available for most meetings or calls you have a lot of freedom, and in turn I'm personally more willing to put in the extra time if a project is falling behind, or a product breaks at 7PM and the guy on call could use help. And for a while it was a big reason for me staying. Yeah, another job offered me more money, but when I needed to go take the car into the shop would I need to take a day off? Will I be able to leave early on Thursdays? Will I be punished for spending 3 hours learning a new tool when I got stuck on my main project and needed to just switch gears for a bit?
- Davertron 10y ago
  Is your company hiring front-end devs? ;) It might be useful to put the company name out there, I'd be interested in learning more.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  I think that this is great and you are valuing trust between you and the company. We are all adults and it is first and foremost your life and time that you have decided to spend with the company. Expectation that it is the company's time is an aggressive way to think about a salary based employment. I am befuddled by some companies that do not understand that respect and trust goes a long way towards employees life, health, and productivity too!
- wiredfool 10y ago
  I've left money on the table for flexibility. I've been WFH for a long time now, and I'm far more effective than in the office. They don't mind errands, and I don't mind working the occasional evening when out of time zone calls come up. Some weeks it's most evenings till 11, but I can balance that with working out in the mornings.
- st3v3r 10y ago
strictnein 10y ago
Flexible work environment and schedule. WFH every Friday. Flexible start and end times. I'm typically in the office 9am-4pm, and just work some nights to make up the time, which is a schedule I prefer.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  Taking time during the day or when you want can be a huge improvement over a 9-5 job. Sometimes I will work late at night if I need to get things done, otherwise I don't sweat when the work is done. This also allows me to not waste time when I know I wont be able to focus. I would rather be efficient and work when I know I am going to get stuff done and do it well.
GordonS 10y ago
Unfortunately, like many companies, absolutely nothing.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  What would be one thing that would motivate you that your company could implement?
  - GordonS 10y ago
    Personally, I'd like to be given time for continuous learning, rather than having me utilised (at least) 100% all the time. This would be a win-win, since I can keep my knowledge current and my employer gets someone with skills that our clients want. But instead, all the current management cares about is utilisation figures and overheads.
    - zeal-technology 10y ago
      Unfortunately we see too much of managers worrying about figures and utilization rates. These numbers are not always the best to go by. We like to try and empower each other to implement ways to improve our culture and build a better workplace that can benefit us in many ways. I hope that your company can realize the benefit this can have on the whole companies morale and productivity. Empowering your people to learn and improve helps everyone.
nerdywordy 10y ago
Flexibility. Outside of pay/benefits, I feel like flexibility is the ultimate perk. We're a small software SaaS & consulting shop. 15ish employees. The atmosphere is relaxed, and there aren't cheesy corporate posters anywhere. On the flip side, we also don't have bean bags or an open office. We work standard 40-45 hours/week. We stay motivated and fresh by working remotely every now and then or by taking a long weekend whenever needed. I've been offered better paying jobs at fairly large enterprise companies... but the flexibility offered here means to much to me. Motivation doesn't really take gimmicks. You just need to have a work environment that doesn't encourage burnout or neglecting your life outside of work.
- blaedj 10y ago
  I've come to realize that flexibility is very near the top of the list for me as well, to the point that a pay increase would have to be pretty large for me to give up flexibility.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  I agree, flexibility and autonomy seems like a large roll in this discussion. I think acknowledging life outside of work is really important. Better yet work that suits your lifestyle can be very motivating.
forgotmysn 10y ago
I've never heard someone say that they are motivated by their company's vision and/or mission.
- pcsanwald 10y ago
  I am. I work for a small fitness company and my main motivation is the product we're building, and what we want to do with it. That was my whole reason for joining in the first place, and it remains the most motivating thing for me.
  - zeal-technology 10y ago
    That is the I am at my company too! It is important for me to make a difference in work culture. I think that when something that fits your lifestyle and life goals provides you the ability to do it for work, it does not really feel like "work" and it is very motivating and moving personally. I think you are in the right spot if that is the way you feel. :)
- desireco42 10y ago
  I did, there are often yesman who would say things like that.
known 10y ago
AKA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  What about self-advancement aka learning :)
Bahamut 10y ago
Flexible work (I can work from anywhere where I can access the internet reliably...sometimes even when not reliable, i.e. while flying), and the ability to take PTO whenever I request it without issues, even 2 1/2 weeks at a time! There is also a lot of respect for each other, and genuine listening to what people recommend & action based on feedback.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  Respect goes a long way on all skill levels. I respect those I work with and both those people and I benefit from it. With respect for one another no matter the skill level, we help push each others careers forward.
jcahill84 10y ago
I'm an engineer at a massive media and technology company. What keeps me motivated is the freedom to experiment and develop ideas on my own, outside of the iteration's expected deliverables. We have a very open culture, where engineers can spin up production servers with the click of a button, deploy things, and tear it all down without interacting with a single approval chain or ticketing system. So that's really it outside of pay... Freedom to learn and experiment on your own is a really powerful motivator for me.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  I think it is awesome that your company allows you to use infrastructure to test new ideas and learn. It sounds like they have trust in you. Do they encourage you to experiment and try new things? Are these new things ever totally different from what your company does?
  - jcahill84 10y ago
    I think that's where they would draw the line. Generally the "new things" are really new ways of doing things we're already doing, or may do in the future. It's definitely a gray line though.
    - zeal-technology 10y ago
      I think a company hackathon or project week can be really cool. Team up with co-workers or just yourself that follows a topic like improve the office somehow or create an idea that can help an opensource project or improve development or another teams process throughout the workday. This can motivate people and at the end you may have something that solves a common day to day pain point for your co-workers.
Overtonwindow 10y ago
Not much... Fear of homelessness and not being able to pay my bills keeps me motivated.
BloodKnight9923 10y ago
I am a not so social software engineer, so take it with a grain of salt. I think I would divide it into three categories * Perks and incentives These are things like coffee, having an espresso machine at work, getting access to free snacks. Gym access is another one I have commonly seen. I have also seen things like programs that give you access to free classes or certification programs (when the hell am I supposed to have time to do that?) These little things can make my day better and lighten my mood when things are going well at a company. * Caring about you as a person (?) I would call this roaming the halls - or when management walks around asking people how they are, what did they do over the weekend, are they okay. This can be a great way to gauge what's going on in a small to medium business. That is until it's the same question day in and day out, or you're explaining your hobby to the same person for the fifth time and they obviously aren't listening, then it feels forced and the illusion fades. That said, I'd rather have the person that makes the effort as a manager to get to know me at a least a bit, than to have a suit treat me like a number on a piece of paper. This is another one where when things are going well at a company, I think that management showing they care is important, and it does make me feel more motivated to do my job. * Gatherings I call these "Mandatory fun", I have never been one to want to go hang out at a bar with coworkers after work. It feels forced and awkward to me. When you're spending the majority of your week pulling your hair out trying to get a product working, or bugs fixed, or put out fires, or come back from a layoff - it's hard for me to find these to be fun. That said, I know a lot of other people do find them fun, so I understand why they happen. But using a pizza party to try to cheer up employees instead of communicating what is going on at the company is a half measure that just erodes trust over time. Where this all falls apart for me is when a company starts to have issues. I have personally found that when you don't have transparency in a company, you lose trust. Is my boss being nice to me because they really don't want me to quit? Or because they're a nice person? Staying motivated when you're facing impending failure is what made me want to respond to this. When everything is going well, it's easy to stay motivated, when things get rough, everything changes. The perks start to vanish as budgets get cut, the lazy conversations about how much fun you had over the weekend are replaced with monosyllabic responses - you don't have time because you have to ship that feature yesterday. You start to realize that you're dreading going to work. You start to realize you don't know what you're doing anymore. You start you realize this isn't what you thought it would be. How do you stay motivated during that? The only thing I have found is sheer willpower, fighting through it and just telling yourself to keep going. Carefully managing what you can and can't do so you don't burn out. I have yet to have a company offer anything that really motivated me during those times other than clear and honest explanations of where we are, what we need to do, why we need to do that, and how that will make my life better. Transparency and honesty has been the only real motivator for me when things are tough - but the coffee is nice too.
sbov 10y ago
I would summarize it as: respect for the employees and treating people as equals rather than subordinates.
edw519 10y ago
free Thanksgiving lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk) free Christmas lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk) free Years of Service Lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk) free Company Picnic (where we have to listen to executives talk) free ice cream at I.T. All Hands Meetings (where we have to listen to the VP of I.T. talk) free "Skip Over Your Boss" lunches with VP of I.T. where he gives the same answer to any question asked free "Start, Stop, Continue" lunches with VP of I.T. where no suggestions are implemented free "Value Stream Mapping" lunches where we plan big processes that will never be implemented free "Operational Excellence" lunches where we plan little processes that will never be implemented free breakfast at every layoff (where the VP of I.T. tries to explain why he laid off the best programmers) free breakfast where Big 5 consultants explain what they will try to implement that can't possibly work free week at Caribbean resort (but for executives only) Oh wait, I don't work there anymore. Never mind.
- silentcylon 10y ago
  Sounds like you made the right decision. Also sounds like they didnt treat you like adults or People for that matter, just employees that are nothing more than employees.
  - brokenmachine 10y ago
    The worst part is I bet they did all the "we are family" and "this is our vision" stuff at those management snoozefests. The thing I really hate is all the meaningless catchphrases. My SO did an interview for a job paying less than market rate because of the "perks" mentioned in the ad, which they could list none of at the interview. They also espoused "work-life balance", while simultaneously expecting her to do unpaid overtime at their whim. She did not apply, and the job is still advertised, now two years later.
analogwzrd 10y ago
Not much actually. The pay is excellent, but it's difficult to put yourself in a situation where you can actually work on something interesting. There's not much in terms of career development, training, or autonomy. That kind of stuff happens, but it happens because you find the right people. The company has nothing to do with it.
nfriedly 10y ago
I really like IBM's Business Conduct Guidelines [1]. I think they help to creat a culture of doing things "above board" which can avoid some major motivation killers. Bayond that, I enjoy quite a lot of autonomy in deciding how I complete my work, and often even what work I perform. Starting a new project that I want to do is obviously more motivating than one I don't care about. Code reviews help me stay motivated to write code that I'll be proud of rather than cheap hacks. Open Source work is kind of an extension of this. I know you asked for "other than pay" but unexpected bonuses and raises are also nice motivation boosters in my experience. [1]: http://www.ibm.com/investor/att/pdf/BCG_C_2016.pdf http://www.ibm.com/investor/att/pdf/BCG_C_2016.pdf (PDF)
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  Autonomy is huge for us and being able to do work when you see fit tends to produce better code in our case. It also fits better into our daily lives and motivates us much more. I agree with unexpected bonuses and raises can be a good motivator too, but I have seen that the effect wears off faster than something that fits into your daily life and improves it. I also agree with the above board approach! You are spot on there. Transparency through the good, the bad, and the ugly are really important to us. I think that with transparency comes strong trust and more respect in the work place. We like to see and feel the motivation of each other "Owning it" or taking lead and pushing on a project emotionally and with Grit. If someone becomes a driving force for a project they think is important it creates a great sense of motivation for them and others around them. It is a core value that really pushes us to be better people and better developers.
pimterry 10y ago
Embracing open-source. The vast majority of the code I write at resin.io isn't just disappearing into some black hole to make the company money, tied to the companies decisions and destiny. It's public, so others can find and use and learn from it, it's part of tools that will be useful for a long way into the future, even if our startup disappears, and it's transparent to all our customers and users too. If I ever want to show some future company my past work, I directly can. It all creates a sense that my work isn't a temporary thing to solve some business problem of ours - I'm creating more-permanent and broader value, not just to resin, but also to me, and our customers, and the open-source community as a whole.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  This is a great point! It is also something me and my co-workers have experienced. We love to build things that not only benefit our company and our goals but our personal careers too. Building and improving our people's careers is really important to us. Something that can be open sourced and keeps our code afloat is looked at as a win.
desireco42 10y ago
Money is pretty much main thing. Unless you are Basecamp and have that kind of fantastic treatment of employees, anything else is just pay and let me do my job, so control.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  What would be the one thing you would like more companies to do that Basecamp does? Which one would improve your work life the most? Also for anyone else, I am just going to leave this here: https://m.signalvnoise.com/employee-benefits-at-basecamp-d2d46fd06c58#.vd80v25vl https://m.signalvnoise.com/employee-benefits-at-basecamp-d2d...
  - desireco42 10y ago
    So, it is a question of threshold. With Basecamp you know they are committed to your wellbeing, it is not a specific perk, it is the attitude where you are certain they are with you and then you obviously don't have to think much, you can give yourself to work.
    - zeal-technology 10y ago
      This hits home for me. Having the attitude and atmosphere like this is very important! It makes such a difference to feel that the company and community has your back. It also takes so much stress out of work and adds to excitement. Well said.
framebit 10y ago
I worked at a company that had a great work culture. My manager was awesome, there were tons of side benefits, in general everybody worked reasonable hours and got to leave work at work. But they were bleeding talent because they weren't keeping up with market rates for salaries. The side benefits and the extra motivations are important, particularly for long term satisfaction and sustainability, but those things alone won't cut it if you're paying 70% of the market rate in the area.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  This is true and I think it is important to really value people. Trying to cut that because you can is not really nice nor motivating.
user5994461 10y ago
two numbers: 9 to 5
kzisme 10y ago
Being my first full time job out of college I don't have much of a say, but compared to retail jobs and previous internship(s) it's great. The company culture isn't stuffy - I can essentially come and go as long as I get my stuff done that I need to. I wish it was less bureaucratic and "office like", but I think we're growing away from that. Tech wise - the .NET stack has grown on me in the time I've been here, but I still worry that I'll only be exposed to languages I'm forced to use at work as opposed to languages and technologies I want to use/learn. Everyone I work with is great as well, but the one thing I miss about college/small college town is the community/connected feeling. I don't get that feeling at all currently, so I'm trying to pinpoint why I'm not feeling that anymore.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  I can tell that this is great insight for someone just out of college so before I start, props to you. Coming out of college and into my first job I found it beneficial for myself when starting to work on a problem first consider all alternative ways to solve it. I would consider things like would this be better off done in a different language? Using a different library? Using a different devops tool? Can I use some new technology that could help me learn something new? This helped me to broaden my expertise. At the same time remember to balance these choices. You may hear push back from people saying do not just use a new technology for the sake of it, you need a good reason to which I can also agree with. Feeling connected and a sense of supporting community is really important to be happy with the work you are doing. I found that sense of community by making a friend at work, someone that I would hang with outside of work and could relate and support me in decisions. This friend also pushes me and we have some fun competitions sometimes to better our skills that we use for work or to learn new ones. I have since looked to make friends in more co-workers to build my community and network of people that give me this feeling and that I hopefully provide for them too! I know this part sounds cliche and old but if there is no luck with co-workers or even friends then there is always the community you are talking to here! HN is a great way to improve and become active in community. HN is not the only one too, meetups around your area could be more common than you think. Take the time to get out and meet other people in your field and take it upon yourself to expand your network and community. Overall I would say keep up drive for new experiences and career building. You might even try to suggest ways to improve and build community within your company! Take it upon yourself to see if you can push the company to implement your ideas! :)
sirn 10y ago
I can't say much about being motivated, but for me lack of opportunity to learn and try out new things can be very demotivating. Nothing stop me from doing so after work in a side project, but that still doesn't make the 'I wish I could use this in my day job' thought disappear. (My current hack is to learn something that has no use in the day job after work.)
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  I think that hack can be very good for advancing yourself. There are some people here that have said their companies encourage that and allow them to experiment with new technologies and learn different things. Maybe present the benefit of learning side projects or hackathons with the team and pitch it as team building to your company. See if you can get them to bite!
  - sirn 10y ago
    Sorry, I think I didn't worded it properly. I think encourage learning and reward learning are a very different things that need to coexists with each other. The company can encourage learning (e.g. buying books), but without giving an opportunity to try out what you learn, the learning part can be demotivating because it has no effect. It's even worse when company has neither. For example, when you believe what you learn can solve the problem the company is having but you're not allowed to do it. Even when the reason is understandable (e.g. the change does not worth the cost, or need to prioritize something else), it can still be very demotivating.
bungie4 10y ago
My company has a personal wellness consultant firm for anything that troubles you. They offer a selection of gifts after 1 year, 2 year, 5 years etc with the company. All of can be found at flea markets and the finest asset liquidation companies around the country. Our chairs were bought at an auction 25 years ago for pennies on the dollar. They were used then. As for the work, I'm a systems analyst, process engineer, senior dev, dba and data analyst, but yet I'm paid like a junior dev. What keeps me motivated. My family and my hopes for a bright future.
scarface74 10y ago
I know the question says "other than pay", but money is the most important reason I work. I'm not going to take a job that pays less than what I'm making and I'm not going to stay in a job that pays $10,000 less than my market value under any circumstances. That doesn't mean that I will automatically leave for a job paying $10K more, that may be an outlier, but I won't settle getting paid substantially less than average for my skill set. My second priority is a "seat at the table". I won't work at a large company or one where I'm not visible to the people who decide my pay. My third priority is whether what I'm learning is relevant in the market. My peace of mind doesn't come from my job - it does come from knowing that I have an in demand skill set that has historically allowed me to get a job in two weeks to a month. Fourth, is of course freedom and flexible and a results oriented culture that is more concerned about getting things done than whether you work from 8-5. Meaning if I need to work from home occasionally come in late sometimes, leave early, etc it doesn't matter as long as I'm meeting deadlines.
deleted 10y ago
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st3v3r 10y ago
Here's something to keep in mind with all of this, though: These are ways to keep developers/IT happy. They are NOT to be implemented in lieu of pay, though. If we're not getting pay raises, we will jump ship.
peterhi 10y ago
Problems. We have more things that need to be done than we can ever possibly do. So we get to pick the problems we feel are the most important and simply have to solve them - however we want :) There is not a lot of money to throw around so we can't go crazy, but that is what makes it such a challenge Some things fail, some things work but don't amount to much but we have enough hits to keep the business ticking over. Love it!
toddan 10y ago
Nothing I motivate my self. Without the company I would get no experience to build and no where to exercise my skills in an production environment where I make an contribution.
ramenjeezus 10y ago
They don't micromanage. Lenient with coming and going, just as long as the work is done (or close to done). They order lunch quite often which is nice. Although I don't have a need, they're very understanding with your schedule versus your kids schedule.
tjalfi 10y ago
Employees receive a substantial amount of money for training every year. Most people don't take advantage of it, though.
madmax108 10y ago
The ability to work on personal growth instead of simply taking the easier (and cheaper) way out. Sponsoring tickets and stay for any conferences I want to attend (not only as a speaker, mind you). Want to work on some Deep Learning problems? Feel free to boot up a couple of AWS GPU instances for yourself. Want to tackle that new product using a tech stack that is new as opposed to what we currently used? Go ahead... Take the time to understand the pros and cons and then make the call. Yes, old technology gets the job done, but personal growth comes from experimenting with stuff. The ability to work how I want to. Though we aren't ROWE yet, we're pretty much there without trying to. Every meeting has a video link for remote participants, and while we do do SCRUMs, going for a week saying "I'm just trying something out to fix bug XYZ but haven't really gotten anywhere" is not looked down upon. I live with people who have to report to their manager when they have to take half a day off to visit the dentist. I'm glad I don't have to do any of that. Being made part of the vision. Massive dogfooding happens here. Everyone from the CEO to the newb contribute to vision. It's easy to say vision of a company is bullshit, but when you can see what you want to achieve, and know how you want to do it, it really makes going in to work more fun! + the usual casual leave policy, amazing coworkers (pros of a smaller team), great pay The ups and downs are there, but I'm in a kickass place that I'm not looking forward ti leaving anytime soon!
chetankothari 10y ago
The summary of how our company keeps us motivated is very well illustrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ
chetankothari 10y ago
The summary of how our company keeps us motivated is very well illustrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ&t=136s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ&t=136s

Personally a lot of my motivation comes from my company's culture and personal alignment with the company's vision and mission.

TenOhms 10y ago

My company's culture (large multi-national) demotivates me and their PR-speak vision and mission statements mean less than nothing to me. Am I weird?

jotato 10y ago
Nope. I couldn't care less about our "vision" or whatever management is calling it now. I am at my employer under a "business" relationship. In exchange for my experience, time, and expertise, I will accept a salary. Don't try to rope me into "loyalty" or say we are a "family". We aren't - end of story.
- silentcylon 10y ago
  Do you ever wish to work on something that hits more personally for you? Would that motivate you more than just the pay?
  - jotato 10y ago
    I have. If I truly believe in the "product" and am treated like I am an owner and not a minion than it is different. edit by owner, I don't mean of the company; rather the product. I find developers spend most of their time in the app and know when something works or doesn't. They can have a "hunch" when a feature is off, or the experience is wrong. being empowered to make decisions and tweaks without someone else getting upset is invaluable
    - zeal-technology 10y ago
      I would whole heartily agree with this. I see a lack of company delegation and trust to give Ownership over to its people when those people are full well, if not more than the company, able to make the important decisions. Ownership and Owning it, whatever it may be (project, product, architecture, etc) is important to driving self improvement for people and advancing their careers. I think it is great that you acknowledge this and feel this way. I hope that your company realizes it and values your drive, opinions, and decisions.
  - losteric 10y ago
    Personally, it's about ownership. I'm an independent contributor, a dev. I don't own my employer's business beyond some token stocks. They give me value in the form of money because I give them more value through my work. It's ultimately prostitution, and that's OK. They pay me well and respect my time/skills, I give them 100% for 8h day. But I won't go "above and beyond" for someone else's business...
- tbirrell 10y ago
  Exactly this, I always know in the back of my mind that even if I drank the company kool-aid, they would drop me in a heartbeat if it benefited them.
akyu 10y ago
No you're human.
strictnein 10y ago
As someone also employed in a large multinational, I always enjoy the mass emails that detail the cool conventions that are being held in Vegas or <other nice locale> that thousands of my non-technical coworkers get to attend.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  Attending events and networking is a great way for people to get out and change up the pace of work life and learn something new. I think that this is not done nearly as often as I would like it to happen. Especially in the tech world where things are changing at such a fast rate.
- kzisme 10y ago
  The one thing I dislike is that sales departments are treated like gold in some instances ie: sales rallies, bonuses, contests, free vacations, cars. Where as IT/Tech departments miss out on a lot of those.
  - zeal-technology 10y ago
    Do you think it would behoove a company to reward its other teams like it does its sales teams?
    - kzisme 10y ago
      I suppose - I just find it strange that most of the IT initiatives directly support the success of a business, and when the company sends the top 10 producing sales team members to a free Caribbean trip, and buy luxury cars for others for a year I'm sure they could shell out something for other teams rather than buying a pizza or lunch every so often. This is just an observation as well, so I could be completely incorrect in my thinking.
      - zeal-technology 10y ago
        Its a great observation and one that I think has struck many people. I would be interested in hearing a sales person and development person put their views on the table about the subject so we could see both sides and compare motivators between the two roles.
mhurron 10y ago
Nope, I'm here just for the pay. The PR is all bullshit. I've also worked at small places. It's the same thing, I'm there for the pay, nothing else.
- maccard 10y ago
  If I'm going to spend 40+ hours somewhere for a meaningful amount of time (1 year+), the happier I can make myself there the better. I like my co workers, my workplace treats me with respect, they're flexible, we work on interesting projects, nice office locations, a comfortable environment.
  - silentcylon 10y ago
    Personally I would love to travel and work remotely (building up towards that) and the flexibility and comfort for me means being able to accomplish other things in my life that I want to do while working. Like travel across the world and see new places. If there is enough trust and flexibility I could see myself doing that for the rest of my life.
dozzie 10y ago
Vision and mission have any significance if they reflect how the company owner wants to live. If a company grows large enough to get the middle management caste, vision and mission become meaningless.
JBlue42 10y ago
Nope. I'm at a small company (100+ employees) and the Powers That Be talk a good talk but don't walk the walk.

silentcylon 10y ago

I think one of the more motivating things I have seen is to understand that people are giving the majority of their time to the company throughout the day and the year. A company that can become a part of an employees life and not have its employees dedicate their life to the company is a big feat. I have seen this achieved by a company that gives proper flexibility for employees so that work fits into their lives and not the other way around. Such as when you do your work is less important than how well you do your work. Or where you work is irrelevant if you collaborate well. I think companies in general should provide more opportunities to explore and experience the world to their people than they do today.

thetest3r 10y ago

I work for a religious university (so the pay is meh). I would say that it's the relaxed culture in IT (I can come in any time between 8-9), good benefits, and free classes. You're supposed to use the free classes to work on your masters but I use it to take the "fun" classes you can't during a normal college run. And the boss is okay with it :D!

zeal-technology 10y ago
That is really cool! Any kind of learning experience to better yourself tends to be a really good motivator. People tend to feel stagnant and want a change if their job is the same over and over and they are not learning anything new or being challenged.

aeharding 10y ago

Core hours, WFH day (Thursday team works from home, although you can take other days on a non-regular basis), 40 hours per week max set by boss. Treating me like an adult with a life outside of work, basically.

zeal-technology 10y ago
I think that mutual respect and trust between boss and you is really important to feeling comfortable with work. It is painful to see some bosses become extremely stuck in their ways and think everyone works the same way. That time working from where you want can be extremely thought provoking and provide those who need it, a change of pace.
strictnein 10y ago
Why Thursday for a WFH day instead of Friday? Just curious.
- jdpigeon 10y ago
  Don't WFH days feel the best when they're in the middle of the week? That way they break up the 'daily grind' feeling and give you the opportunity for deep work right in the middle of a weekly sprint.
- aeharding 10y ago
  No reason in particular, but I like it because it breaks the work-from-work week up. The important thing is that the whole team is WFH the same day so we can depend on other days for meetings and whatnot, and nobody feels left out when they are WFH.
- chipperyman573 10y ago
  Probably so it's not treated as a weekend, and so that any issues that arise can be discussed on Friday.

cle 10y ago

Every few months we (the developers) are given a week of freedom to build/learn whatever we want (within reason). It is so refreshing, and every time I grow so much faster than when slogging along the rest of the time, and we often invent novel technology that adds a ton of value.

zeal-technology 10y ago
This is really cool! You see this more in video game companies to spur thoughts and creativity and improve each other. Do you guys team up at all ever to work on new ideas? Out of the new things you learn and build how have they benefited your career? And have they helped in your work for the company?
- cle 10y ago
  Most people team up. I usually spend my time exploring new technologies and new paradigms to help simplify our stack. I've been doing it for a few years, and many of our foundational services and technologies came directly out of these free weeks. A lot of people take it as an opportunity to solve annoying problems that we don't have time to solve "on sprint". Definitely helped my career, because I can focus on building skills that I personally want to develop, in addition to building something ambitious without worrying about failure.

st3v3r 10y ago

Not a whole lot, actually. The people I work with are fun. I could totally be done with working on this project, though.

zeal-technology 10y ago
Have you asked your employer to set a new project, something challenging for you in the future? Maybe they are willing to switch things up to keep you happy?

jtwaleson 10y ago

Nothing, and that's great. Something I really enjoy about my current 250 people company is how many things are not arranged properly or at all. This gives me many opportunities to step up, identify issues and address them with management teams etc. I had the opportunity to join Facebook a couple of years ago for much better pay and moving to the Bay Area (a long time dream) but decided not to do it for mainly the reason above, as well as alignment with the company mission (which is creating a product that solves problems, not creating free services and running ads like Google/FB). Edit: "nothing" as stated above is a hyperbole. Actually there are many things that the company does or allows that make it a great place to work. What I like most is to help improving it further.

silentcylon 10y ago
What process to you use to improve it further? Do you test things out a lot. How do you know what you implement is working?

cableshaft 10y ago

By having an immediate boss that's very nice, knowledgeable about tech, and flexible, and gotten lucky about hiring a pretty solid group of employees. But that only goes so far. The money isn't really where I want to be, the work isn't too interesting anymore, and I don't see much room for advancement, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll stay here. Company vision and mission statements mean very little to me, since they're almost always meaningless crap to put on a letterhead and not much more. Oh, also my commute is just over 15 minutes. That's nice too. I can stop by the house for lunch sometimes and see my puppy. So that helps.

zeal-technology 10y ago
It sounds like not providing a way or opportunity to advance your knowledge and career is hurting you and your culture. Do you think you would stay if your employer would provide more opportunities to work on newer projects or more cutting edge stuff?
- silentcylon 10y ago
  I know for me that if I am not learning new tech or driving something that really motivates me forward every month than I become antsy and look for new things I can learn.
- cableshaft 10y ago
  No, probably not. They're really not aligned with the type of work I'm trying to get back into. I'm wanting to get back into mobile or move into VR space, and they're making web and phone apps for healthcare and insurance companies. I don't see that getting aligned ever. I am actually learning new things and working on new projects right now, that might keep me a bit longer, but not too long. I'm not in a hurry to leave, but I'm starting to reboot and refresh my knowledge in the other fields again.
  - silentcylon 10y ago
    I know for me that I broke off into my own side projects and contracting work that interested me. I found that being able to tackle a contract that I want or a side project that could possibly bring me some money in or teach me some new things has kept me on the tip of my toes.

ceejayoz 10y ago

Pay well?

switch007 10y ago

A boss with a deep technical background, who has read Peopleware and embraced it, whom you trust, who'll admit fault, and works to enable you to do your best. One can dream!

silentcylon 10y ago
A boss who can push me technically and is always helping me advance my career was huge for me. I know that has been the case with many people I have talked to. If you are not helping your team or co-workers to better themselves than they are not going to feel motivation from you.

Klathmon 10y ago

We are treated like adults. We work from home 4 days a week, we are more than free to go run errands or something if we need to, we have the freedom to spend some time on learning or on a "side project" which could help the company, some people have even gone over on vacation time with no issues, some people start at 7AM and cut out early, others start at 10 or 11 and leave later. As long as your shit gets done and you are available for most meetings or calls you have a lot of freedom, and in turn I'm personally more willing to put in the extra time if a project is falling behind, or a product breaks at 7PM and the guy on call could use help. And for a while it was a big reason for me staying. Yeah, another job offered me more money, but when I needed to go take the car into the shop would I need to take a day off? Will I be able to leave early on Thursdays? Will I be punished for spending 3 hours learning a new tool when I got stuck on my main project and needed to just switch gears for a bit?

Davertron 10y ago
Is your company hiring front-end devs? ;) It might be useful to put the company name out there, I'd be interested in learning more.
zeal-technology 10y ago
I think that this is great and you are valuing trust between you and the company. We are all adults and it is first and foremost your life and time that you have decided to spend with the company. Expectation that it is the company's time is an aggressive way to think about a salary based employment. I am befuddled by some companies that do not understand that respect and trust goes a long way towards employees life, health, and productivity too!
wiredfool 10y ago
I've left money on the table for flexibility. I've been WFH for a long time now, and I'm far more effective than in the office. They don't mind errands, and I don't mind working the occasional evening when out of time zone calls come up. Some weeks it's most evenings till 11, but I can balance that with working out in the mornings.
st3v3r 10y ago

strictnein 10y ago

Flexible work environment and schedule. WFH every Friday. Flexible start and end times. I'm typically in the office 9am-4pm, and just work some nights to make up the time, which is a schedule I prefer.

zeal-technology 10y ago
Taking time during the day or when you want can be a huge improvement over a 9-5 job. Sometimes I will work late at night if I need to get things done, otherwise I don't sweat when the work is done. This also allows me to not waste time when I know I wont be able to focus. I would rather be efficient and work when I know I am going to get stuff done and do it well.

GordonS 10y ago

Unfortunately, like many companies, absolutely nothing.

zeal-technology 10y ago
What would be one thing that would motivate you that your company could implement?
- GordonS 10y ago
  Personally, I'd like to be given time for continuous learning, rather than having me utilised (at least) 100% all the time. This would be a win-win, since I can keep my knowledge current and my employer gets someone with skills that our clients want. But instead, all the current management cares about is utilisation figures and overheads.
  - zeal-technology 10y ago
    Unfortunately we see too much of managers worrying about figures and utilization rates. These numbers are not always the best to go by. We like to try and empower each other to implement ways to improve our culture and build a better workplace that can benefit us in many ways. I hope that your company can realize the benefit this can have on the whole companies morale and productivity. Empowering your people to learn and improve helps everyone.

nerdywordy 10y ago

Flexibility. Outside of pay/benefits, I feel like flexibility is the ultimate perk. We're a small software SaaS & consulting shop. 15ish employees. The atmosphere is relaxed, and there aren't cheesy corporate posters anywhere. On the flip side, we also don't have bean bags or an open office. We work standard 40-45 hours/week. We stay motivated and fresh by working remotely every now and then or by taking a long weekend whenever needed. I've been offered better paying jobs at fairly large enterprise companies... but the flexibility offered here means to much to me. Motivation doesn't really take gimmicks. You just need to have a work environment that doesn't encourage burnout or neglecting your life outside of work.

blaedj 10y ago
I've come to realize that flexibility is very near the top of the list for me as well, to the point that a pay increase would have to be pretty large for me to give up flexibility.
zeal-technology 10y ago
I agree, flexibility and autonomy seems like a large roll in this discussion. I think acknowledging life outside of work is really important. Better yet work that suits your lifestyle can be very motivating.

forgotmysn 10y ago

I've never heard someone say that they are motivated by their company's vision and/or mission.

pcsanwald 10y ago
I am. I work for a small fitness company and my main motivation is the product we're building, and what we want to do with it. That was my whole reason for joining in the first place, and it remains the most motivating thing for me.
- zeal-technology 10y ago
  That is the I am at my company too! It is important for me to make a difference in work culture. I think that when something that fits your lifestyle and life goals provides you the ability to do it for work, it does not really feel like "work" and it is very motivating and moving personally. I think you are in the right spot if that is the way you feel. :)
desireco42 10y ago
I did, there are often yesman who would say things like that.

known 10y ago

AKA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

zeal-technology 10y ago
What about self-advancement aka learning :)

Bahamut 10y ago

Flexible work (I can work from anywhere where I can access the internet reliably...sometimes even when not reliable, i.e. while flying), and the ability to take PTO whenever I request it without issues, even 2 1/2 weeks at a time! There is also a lot of respect for each other, and genuine listening to what people recommend & action based on feedback.

zeal-technology 10y ago
Respect goes a long way on all skill levels. I respect those I work with and both those people and I benefit from it. With respect for one another no matter the skill level, we help push each others careers forward.

jcahill84 10y ago

I'm an engineer at a massive media and technology company. What keeps me motivated is the freedom to experiment and develop ideas on my own, outside of the iteration's expected deliverables. We have a very open culture, where engineers can spin up production servers with the click of a button, deploy things, and tear it all down without interacting with a single approval chain or ticketing system. So that's really it outside of pay... Freedom to learn and experiment on your own is a really powerful motivator for me.

zeal-technology 10y ago
I think it is awesome that your company allows you to use infrastructure to test new ideas and learn. It sounds like they have trust in you. Do they encourage you to experiment and try new things? Are these new things ever totally different from what your company does?
- jcahill84 10y ago
  I think that's where they would draw the line. Generally the "new things" are really new ways of doing things we're already doing, or may do in the future. It's definitely a gray line though.
  - zeal-technology 10y ago
    I think a company hackathon or project week can be really cool. Team up with co-workers or just yourself that follows a topic like improve the office somehow or create an idea that can help an opensource project or improve development or another teams process throughout the workday. This can motivate people and at the end you may have something that solves a common day to day pain point for your co-workers.

Overtonwindow 10y ago

Not much... Fear of homelessness and not being able to pay my bills keeps me motivated.

BloodKnight9923 10y ago

I am a not so social software engineer, so take it with a grain of salt. I think I would divide it into three categories * Perks and incentives These are things like coffee, having an espresso machine at work, getting access to free snacks. Gym access is another one I have commonly seen. I have also seen things like programs that give you access to free classes or certification programs (when the hell am I supposed to have time to do that?) These little things can make my day better and lighten my mood when things are going well at a company. * Caring about you as a person (?) I would call this roaming the halls - or when management walks around asking people how they are, what did they do over the weekend, are they okay. This can be a great way to gauge what's going on in a small to medium business. That is until it's the same question day in and day out, or you're explaining your hobby to the same person for the fifth time and they obviously aren't listening, then it feels forced and the illusion fades. That said, I'd rather have the person that makes the effort as a manager to get to know me at a least a bit, than to have a suit treat me like a number on a piece of paper. This is another one where when things are going well at a company, I think that management showing they care is important, and it does make me feel more motivated to do my job. * Gatherings I call these "Mandatory fun", I have never been one to want to go hang out at a bar with coworkers after work. It feels forced and awkward to me. When you're spending the majority of your week pulling your hair out trying to get a product working, or bugs fixed, or put out fires, or come back from a layoff - it's hard for me to find these to be fun. That said, I know a lot of other people do find them fun, so I understand why they happen. But using a pizza party to try to cheer up employees instead of communicating what is going on at the company is a half measure that just erodes trust over time. Where this all falls apart for me is when a company starts to have issues. I have personally found that when you don't have transparency in a company, you lose trust. Is my boss being nice to me because they really don't want me to quit? Or because they're a nice person? Staying motivated when you're facing impending failure is what made me want to respond to this. When everything is going well, it's easy to stay motivated, when things get rough, everything changes. The perks start to vanish as budgets get cut, the lazy conversations about how much fun you had over the weekend are replaced with monosyllabic responses - you don't have time because you have to ship that feature yesterday. You start to realize that you're dreading going to work. You start to realize you don't know what you're doing anymore. You start you realize this isn't what you thought it would be. How do you stay motivated during that? The only thing I have found is sheer willpower, fighting through it and just telling yourself to keep going. Carefully managing what you can and can't do so you don't burn out. I have yet to have a company offer anything that really motivated me during those times other than clear and honest explanations of where we are, what we need to do, why we need to do that, and how that will make my life better. Transparency and honesty has been the only real motivator for me when things are tough - but the coffee is nice too.

sbov 10y ago

I would summarize it as: respect for the employees and treating people as equals rather than subordinates.

edw519 10y ago

free Thanksgiving lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk) free Christmas lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk) free Years of Service Lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk) free Company Picnic (where we have to listen to executives talk) free ice cream at I.T. All Hands Meetings (where we have to listen to the VP of I.T. talk) free "Skip Over Your Boss" lunches with VP of I.T. where he gives the same answer to any question asked free "Start, Stop, Continue" lunches with VP of I.T. where no suggestions are implemented free "Value Stream Mapping" lunches where we plan big processes that will never be implemented free "Operational Excellence" lunches where we plan little processes that will never be implemented free breakfast at every layoff (where the VP of I.T. tries to explain why he laid off the best programmers) free breakfast where Big 5 consultants explain what they will try to implement that can't possibly work free week at Caribbean resort (but for executives only) Oh wait, I don't work there anymore. Never mind.

silentcylon 10y ago
Sounds like you made the right decision. Also sounds like they didnt treat you like adults or People for that matter, just employees that are nothing more than employees.
- brokenmachine 10y ago
  The worst part is I bet they did all the "we are family" and "this is our vision" stuff at those management snoozefests. The thing I really hate is all the meaningless catchphrases. My SO did an interview for a job paying less than market rate because of the "perks" mentioned in the ad, which they could list none of at the interview. They also espoused "work-life balance", while simultaneously expecting her to do unpaid overtime at their whim. She did not apply, and the job is still advertised, now two years later.

analogwzrd 10y ago

Not much actually. The pay is excellent, but it's difficult to put yourself in a situation where you can actually work on something interesting. There's not much in terms of career development, training, or autonomy. That kind of stuff happens, but it happens because you find the right people. The company has nothing to do with it.

nfriedly 10y ago

I really like IBM's Business Conduct Guidelines [1]. I think they help to creat a culture of doing things "above board" which can avoid some major motivation killers. Bayond that, I enjoy quite a lot of autonomy in deciding how I complete my work, and often even what work I perform. Starting a new project that I want to do is obviously more motivating than one I don't care about. Code reviews help me stay motivated to write code that I'll be proud of rather than cheap hacks. Open Source work is kind of an extension of this. I know you asked for "other than pay" but unexpected bonuses and raises are also nice motivation boosters in my experience. [1]: http://www.ibm.com/investor/att/pdf/BCG_C_2016.pdf http://www.ibm.com/investor/att/pdf/BCG_C_2016.pdf (PDF)

zeal-technology 10y ago
Autonomy is huge for us and being able to do work when you see fit tends to produce better code in our case. It also fits better into our daily lives and motivates us much more. I agree with unexpected bonuses and raises can be a good motivator too, but I have seen that the effect wears off faster than something that fits into your daily life and improves it. I also agree with the above board approach! You are spot on there. Transparency through the good, the bad, and the ugly are really important to us. I think that with transparency comes strong trust and more respect in the work place. We like to see and feel the motivation of each other "Owning it" or taking lead and pushing on a project emotionally and with Grit. If someone becomes a driving force for a project they think is important it creates a great sense of motivation for them and others around them. It is a core value that really pushes us to be better people and better developers.

pimterry 10y ago

Embracing open-source. The vast majority of the code I write at resin.io isn't just disappearing into some black hole to make the company money, tied to the companies decisions and destiny. It's public, so others can find and use and learn from it, it's part of tools that will be useful for a long way into the future, even if our startup disappears, and it's transparent to all our customers and users too. If I ever want to show some future company my past work, I directly can. It all creates a sense that my work isn't a temporary thing to solve some business problem of ours - I'm creating more-permanent and broader value, not just to resin, but also to me, and our customers, and the open-source community as a whole.

zeal-technology 10y ago
This is a great point! It is also something me and my co-workers have experienced. We love to build things that not only benefit our company and our goals but our personal careers too. Building and improving our people's careers is really important to us. Something that can be open sourced and keeps our code afloat is looked at as a win.

desireco42 10y ago

Money is pretty much main thing. Unless you are Basecamp and have that kind of fantastic treatment of employees, anything else is just pay and let me do my job, so control.

zeal-technology 10y ago
What would be the one thing you would like more companies to do that Basecamp does? Which one would improve your work life the most? Also for anyone else, I am just going to leave this here: https://m.signalvnoise.com/employee-benefits-at-basecamp-d2d46fd06c58#.vd80v25vl https://m.signalvnoise.com/employee-benefits-at-basecamp-d2d...
- desireco42 10y ago
  So, it is a question of threshold. With Basecamp you know they are committed to your wellbeing, it is not a specific perk, it is the attitude where you are certain they are with you and then you obviously don't have to think much, you can give yourself to work.
  - zeal-technology 10y ago
    This hits home for me. Having the attitude and atmosphere like this is very important! It makes such a difference to feel that the company and community has your back. It also takes so much stress out of work and adds to excitement. Well said.

framebit 10y ago

I worked at a company that had a great work culture. My manager was awesome, there were tons of side benefits, in general everybody worked reasonable hours and got to leave work at work. But they were bleeding talent because they weren't keeping up with market rates for salaries. The side benefits and the extra motivations are important, particularly for long term satisfaction and sustainability, but those things alone won't cut it if you're paying 70% of the market rate in the area.

zeal-technology 10y ago
This is true and I think it is important to really value people. Trying to cut that because you can is not really nice nor motivating.

user5994461 10y ago

two numbers: 9 to 5

kzisme 10y ago

Being my first full time job out of college I don't have much of a say, but compared to retail jobs and previous internship(s) it's great. The company culture isn't stuffy - I can essentially come and go as long as I get my stuff done that I need to. I wish it was less bureaucratic and "office like", but I think we're growing away from that. Tech wise - the .NET stack has grown on me in the time I've been here, but I still worry that I'll only be exposed to languages I'm forced to use at work as opposed to languages and technologies I want to use/learn. Everyone I work with is great as well, but the one thing I miss about college/small college town is the community/connected feeling. I don't get that feeling at all currently, so I'm trying to pinpoint why I'm not feeling that anymore.

zeal-technology 10y ago
I can tell that this is great insight for someone just out of college so before I start, props to you. Coming out of college and into my first job I found it beneficial for myself when starting to work on a problem first consider all alternative ways to solve it. I would consider things like would this be better off done in a different language? Using a different library? Using a different devops tool? Can I use some new technology that could help me learn something new? This helped me to broaden my expertise. At the same time remember to balance these choices. You may hear push back from people saying do not just use a new technology for the sake of it, you need a good reason to which I can also agree with. Feeling connected and a sense of supporting community is really important to be happy with the work you are doing. I found that sense of community by making a friend at work, someone that I would hang with outside of work and could relate and support me in decisions. This friend also pushes me and we have some fun competitions sometimes to better our skills that we use for work or to learn new ones. I have since looked to make friends in more co-workers to build my community and network of people that give me this feeling and that I hopefully provide for them too! I know this part sounds cliche and old but if there is no luck with co-workers or even friends then there is always the community you are talking to here! HN is a great way to improve and become active in community. HN is not the only one too, meetups around your area could be more common than you think. Take the time to get out and meet other people in your field and take it upon yourself to expand your network and community. Overall I would say keep up drive for new experiences and career building. You might even try to suggest ways to improve and build community within your company! Take it upon yourself to see if you can push the company to implement your ideas! :)

sirn 10y ago

I can't say much about being motivated, but for me lack of opportunity to learn and try out new things can be very demotivating. Nothing stop me from doing so after work in a side project, but that still doesn't make the 'I wish I could use this in my day job' thought disappear. (My current hack is to learn something that has no use in the day job after work.)

zeal-technology 10y ago
I think that hack can be very good for advancing yourself. There are some people here that have said their companies encourage that and allow them to experiment with new technologies and learn different things. Maybe present the benefit of learning side projects or hackathons with the team and pitch it as team building to your company. See if you can get them to bite!
- sirn 10y ago
  Sorry, I think I didn't worded it properly. I think encourage learning and reward learning are a very different things that need to coexists with each other. The company can encourage learning (e.g. buying books), but without giving an opportunity to try out what you learn, the learning part can be demotivating because it has no effect. It's even worse when company has neither. For example, when you believe what you learn can solve the problem the company is having but you're not allowed to do it. Even when the reason is understandable (e.g. the change does not worth the cost, or need to prioritize something else), it can still be very demotivating.

bungie4 10y ago

My company has a personal wellness consultant firm for anything that troubles you. They offer a selection of gifts after 1 year, 2 year, 5 years etc with the company. All of can be found at flea markets and the finest asset liquidation companies around the country. Our chairs were bought at an auction 25 years ago for pennies on the dollar. They were used then. As for the work, I'm a systems analyst, process engineer, senior dev, dba and data analyst, but yet I'm paid like a junior dev. What keeps me motivated. My family and my hopes for a bright future.

scarface74 10y ago

I know the question says "other than pay", but money is the most important reason I work. I'm not going to take a job that pays less than what I'm making and I'm not going to stay in a job that pays $10,000 less than my market value under any circumstances. That doesn't mean that I will automatically leave for a job paying $10K more, that may be an outlier, but I won't settle getting paid substantially less than average for my skill set. My second priority is a "seat at the table". I won't work at a large company or one where I'm not visible to the people who decide my pay. My third priority is whether what I'm learning is relevant in the market. My peace of mind doesn't come from my job - it does come from knowing that I have an in demand skill set that has historically allowed me to get a job in two weeks to a month. Fourth, is of course freedom and flexible and a results oriented culture that is more concerned about getting things done than whether you work from 8-5. Meaning if I need to work from home occasionally come in late sometimes, leave early, etc it doesn't matter as long as I'm meeting deadlines.

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st3v3r 10y ago

Here's something to keep in mind with all of this, though: These are ways to keep developers/IT happy. They are NOT to be implemented in lieu of pay, though. If we're not getting pay raises, we will jump ship.

peterhi 10y ago

Problems. We have more things that need to be done than we can ever possibly do. So we get to pick the problems we feel are the most important and simply have to solve them - however we want :) There is not a lot of money to throw around so we can't go crazy, but that is what makes it such a challenge Some things fail, some things work but don't amount to much but we have enough hits to keep the business ticking over. Love it!

toddan 10y ago

Nothing I motivate my self. Without the company I would get no experience to build and no where to exercise my skills in an production environment where I make an contribution.

ramenjeezus 10y ago

They don't micromanage. Lenient with coming and going, just as long as the work is done (or close to done). They order lunch quite often which is nice. Although I don't have a need, they're very understanding with your schedule versus your kids schedule.

tjalfi 10y ago

Employees receive a substantial amount of money for training every year. Most people don't take advantage of it, though.

madmax108 10y ago

The ability to work on personal growth instead of simply taking the easier (and cheaper) way out. Sponsoring tickets and stay for any conferences I want to attend (not only as a speaker, mind you). Want to work on some Deep Learning problems? Feel free to boot up a couple of AWS GPU instances for yourself. Want to tackle that new product using a tech stack that is new as opposed to what we currently used? Go ahead... Take the time to understand the pros and cons and then make the call. Yes, old technology gets the job done, but personal growth comes from experimenting with stuff. The ability to work how I want to. Though we aren't ROWE yet, we're pretty much there without trying to. Every meeting has a video link for remote participants, and while we do do SCRUMs, going for a week saying "I'm just trying something out to fix bug XYZ but haven't really gotten anywhere" is not looked down upon. I live with people who have to report to their manager when they have to take half a day off to visit the dentist. I'm glad I don't have to do any of that. Being made part of the vision. Massive dogfooding happens here. Everyone from the CEO to the newb contribute to vision. It's easy to say vision of a company is bullshit, but when you can see what you want to achieve, and know how you want to do it, it really makes going in to work more fun! + the usual casual leave policy, amazing coworkers (pros of a smaller team), great pay The ups and downs are there, but I'm in a kickass place that I'm not looking forward ti leaving anytime soon!

chetankothari 10y ago

The summary of how our company keeps us motivated is very well illustrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ

chetankothari 10y ago

The summary of how our company keeps us motivated is very well illustrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ&t=136s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ&t=136s