4 ms·

Good insights. In addition, there are good reasons to think that the value that programmers produce isn't even measurable in any practical way. A couple of ye

Good insights. In addition, there are good reasons to think that the value that programmers produce isn't even measurable in any practical way. A couple of years ago, I spotted a latent bug in a piece of core infrastructure software that would have caused a lengthy world-wide outage of the company when triggered. I can see that that saved the company at least $10M. But how can managers/HR/etc measure such effects? And how can you account for it in compensation, even if you wanted to? Programmers--like many other professionals--are simply paid the least possible needed to keep them in their seats.

walshemj 8y ago
likewise I found a bug on a major UK website that was costing them > 500k£ per week an also early one the web as one of a two person team delivered I a month what another part of the company has quoted as a 2 year project :-(
- ghufran_syed 8y ago
  You should have quoted them a 1-year project, at some eye-poppingly high rate to solve the problem
skookumchuck 8y ago
When you save a company $$$, it's important to bring that up at annual review time, and definitely place it on your resume.
- dilyevsky 8y ago
  At Google I was explicitly told not to use $ value in my perf review/promo form by multiple managers. There and at other companies i worked for i found that management cares more about revenue (more engagement, new features, releases, etc) than costs (code quality, performance, etc).
  - ehnto 8y ago
    Interesting! I have had the opposite experience at smaller companies. A cynical view might be that in larger companies, the goal setting only materializes as dollar values higher up the chain so that they can benefit from that negotiation leverage. A less cynical view is that business-speak and goal setting naturally abstracts away from money as you try to manage larger goals down a chain of people.
- AznHisoka 8y ago
  Maybe its just me but everybody seems to follow this advice in resumes these days. It has gotten to the point where I become more skeptical of the candidate because I highly doubt a single person was responsible for $x million in addition revenue (even if it is true) I wonder if the best advice now is simply put your impact in non-monetary terms in your resume.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    You're right to be skeptical of any claims in a resume. I've seen an awful lot of resume padding. Be prepared to back it up in the interview.
- modbait 8y ago
  Unfortunately, mentioning this politically sensitive issue in such a manner would have been career suicide. (And I suspect that this is not rare for such black swans.)
ehnto 8y ago
A good accountant can save you hundreds of thousands by spotting misreported line items. Bugs in your accounting so to speak. Being able to demonstrate tech cost savings in monetary value is a very powerful skill to have come negotiating time.

walshemj 8y ago

likewise I found a bug on a major UK website that was costing them > 500k£ per week an also early one the web as one of a two person team delivered I a month what another part of the company has quoted as a 2 year project :-(

ghufran_syed 8y ago
You should have quoted them a 1-year project, at some eye-poppingly high rate to solve the problem

skookumchuck 8y ago

When you save a company $$$, it's important to bring that up at annual review time, and definitely place it on your resume.

dilyevsky 8y ago
At Google I was explicitly told not to use $ value in my perf review/promo form by multiple managers. There and at other companies i worked for i found that management cares more about revenue (more engagement, new features, releases, etc) than costs (code quality, performance, etc).
- ehnto 8y ago
  Interesting! I have had the opposite experience at smaller companies. A cynical view might be that in larger companies, the goal setting only materializes as dollar values higher up the chain so that they can benefit from that negotiation leverage. A less cynical view is that business-speak and goal setting naturally abstracts away from money as you try to manage larger goals down a chain of people.
AznHisoka 8y ago
Maybe its just me but everybody seems to follow this advice in resumes these days. It has gotten to the point where I become more skeptical of the candidate because I highly doubt a single person was responsible for $x million in addition revenue (even if it is true) I wonder if the best advice now is simply put your impact in non-monetary terms in your resume.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  You're right to be skeptical of any claims in a resume. I've seen an awful lot of resume padding. Be prepared to back it up in the interview.
modbait 8y ago
Unfortunately, mentioning this politically sensitive issue in such a manner would have been career suicide. (And I suspect that this is not rare for such black swans.)

ehnto 8y ago

A good accountant can save you hundreds of thousands by spotting misreported line items. Bugs in your accounting so to speak. Being able to demonstrate tech cost savings in monetary value is a very powerful skill to have come negotiating time.