4 ms·

Joel was a Microsoft guy, so I'm pretty sure he was looking for Visual Studio and MSDN licenses, as well as the latest Windows instead of 95/95 (or 3.1!).

by larrik 10y ago

slededit 10y ago
These days it isn't as big a deal, but back then until about 2010 the more expensive machine really made a huge difference. In a time where most people were still running pentium 4s, we had quad core machines to develop on. Compiling was 4x faster than the average computer sold. These days a 3 year old computer really doesn't make that much difference.
- bluedino 10y ago
  Spent a whopping $300 each to max out the RAM (16GB) and get an SSD for each of the 3 developers we had. Improved their productivity so much. It previously took almost 2 minutes just to open a project.
- wishinghand 10y ago
  16gb of RAM minimum is important. SSD hard drives as well. A big monitor or multiple ones if you're into that thing. Ergonomic mice/keyboards if you need them.
  - slededit 10y ago
    That's still around $1000 or so for a decent machine. When Joel first wrote that it would have been more like $3,000. A $3,000 machine is probably overkill for most developers now - as evidenced by the fact most sacrifice performance and get laptops willingly.
    - mturmon 10y ago
      Just for yucks, I took a look at some old purchase orders for Sun engineering workstations (single-user). They used to sit on everyone's desk at a well-funded engineering outfit. I saw an Ultra/1 (170MHz) for about $15K in 1996, and a Ultra 60 (360 MHz, 1GB RAM) for $19.8K in 1998. It's gotten a lot cheaper.
    - wishinghand 10y ago
      Unless it's a struggling startup, I'd still expect a good $3-4k for developer comforts, unless it's something I already owned (like my favorite ergonomic mouse).
- chadgeidel 10y ago
  And yet I just left a job with a 4 year old "desktop class" computer with a "spinning rust" HDD and 8GB of RAM. Something that 4 years ago would have been deployed in a call center. Did I mention I didn't have local admin as a .NET web developer? This was a company that prided itself on its "progressiveness".
  - PaulHoule 10y ago
    Programmers don't leave companies, they leave computers!
    - chadgeidel 10y ago
      You jest, but IMHO the state of a developer workstation (computer, desk, chair, room) speaks volumes about the organization.
mturmon 10y ago
You get points for taking his background into account, but don't forget, Joel was an advocate (and AFAICT, real practitioner) of other "tools" like comfy chairs, big monitors, and quiet workspaces: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/07/a-field-guide-to-developers-2/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/07/a-field-guide-to-d...
- allwein 10y ago
  So true. I once took a contract at a smaller company where everyone had newer MacBook Pros but the owner refused to let anyone get an external monitor because the laptops "already had one built-in."

Joel was a Microsoft guy, so I'm pretty sure he was looking for Visual Studio and MSDN licenses, as well as the latest Windows instead of 95/95 (or 3.1!).

by larrik 10y ago

Joel was a Microsoft guy, so I'm pretty sure he was looking for Visual Studio and MSDN licenses, as well as the latest Windows instead of 95/95 (or 3.1!).

slededit 10y ago

These days it isn't as big a deal, but back then until about 2010 the more expensive machine really made a huge difference. In a time where most people were still running pentium 4s, we had quad core machines to develop on. Compiling was 4x faster than the average computer sold. These days a 3 year old computer really doesn't make that much difference.

bluedino 10y ago
Spent a whopping $300 each to max out the RAM (16GB) and get an SSD for each of the 3 developers we had. Improved their productivity so much. It previously took almost 2 minutes just to open a project.
wishinghand 10y ago
16gb of RAM minimum is important. SSD hard drives as well. A big monitor or multiple ones if you're into that thing. Ergonomic mice/keyboards if you need them.
- slededit 10y ago
  That's still around $1000 or so for a decent machine. When Joel first wrote that it would have been more like $3,000. A $3,000 machine is probably overkill for most developers now - as evidenced by the fact most sacrifice performance and get laptops willingly.
  - mturmon 10y ago
    Just for yucks, I took a look at some old purchase orders for Sun engineering workstations (single-user). They used to sit on everyone's desk at a well-funded engineering outfit. I saw an Ultra/1 (170MHz) for about $15K in 1996, and a Ultra 60 (360 MHz, 1GB RAM) for $19.8K in 1998. It's gotten a lot cheaper.
  - wishinghand 10y ago
    Unless it's a struggling startup, I'd still expect a good $3-4k for developer comforts, unless it's something I already owned (like my favorite ergonomic mouse).
chadgeidel 10y ago
And yet I just left a job with a 4 year old "desktop class" computer with a "spinning rust" HDD and 8GB of RAM. Something that 4 years ago would have been deployed in a call center. Did I mention I didn't have local admin as a .NET web developer? This was a company that prided itself on its "progressiveness".
- PaulHoule 10y ago
  Programmers don't leave companies, they leave computers!
  - chadgeidel 10y ago
    You jest, but IMHO the state of a developer workstation (computer, desk, chair, room) speaks volumes about the organization.

mturmon 10y ago

You get points for taking his background into account, but don't forget, Joel was an advocate (and AFAICT, real practitioner) of other "tools" like comfy chairs, big monitors, and quiet workspaces: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/07/a-field-guide-to-developers-2/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/07/a-field-guide-to-d...

allwein 10y ago
So true. I once took a contract at a smaller company where everyone had newer MacBook Pros but the owner refused to let anyone get an external monitor because the laptops "already had one built-in."