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There's more factors at play than just money here, though. You point out yourself that "a big part of her motivation is wanting to help people in need." Your bo

There's more factors at play than just money here, though. You point out yourself that "a big part of her motivation is wanting to help people in need." Your boss is not "in need". Certainly there's something to be said for pitching in in a crunch and meeting a deadline, but as a refugee from a "if you're not putting in at least 10 hours a day in your cube, you're a terrible human being!" workplace, I'm just way too burnt out on the false sense of urgency some managers try to breed to get free overtime. Fortunately, I've escaped from that bad situation and am now at a much more reasonable workplace -- I work late because I want to, and want to see the project succeed, not because I have some manager breathing down my neck. Besides, while there's certainly economic value to management for me to work unpaid overtime so they can ship sooner, your surgeon acquaintance actually helps people with problems much more important than either me or my boss getting an extra "atta-boy" for getting something done sooner. Not to mention, half pay for a surgeon is sill probably much better than full pay for your average developer. Unrelated: in the city I grew up in, our baseball stadium was named "Phil Welch Stadium".

philwelch 16y ago
You point out yourself that "a big part of her motivation is wanting to help people in need." That's a common motivation for being a doctor. A common motivation for being a programmer is obsessive enjoyment in programming, or fanatical pride in one's work. It was a slightly more complicated analogy than it may have seemed at first, and I certainly agree that programmers shouldn't be expected to work overtime--but some choose do, for reasons I find difficult to criticize. As you yourself say, "I work late because I want to". So I think we're agreed on that point. Unrelatedly, it's a head trip to meet someone familiar with the only thing I used to find when I googled my name. Thanks for that :)

philwelch 16y ago

You point out yourself that "a big part of her motivation is wanting to help people in need." That's a common motivation for being a doctor. A common motivation for being a programmer is obsessive enjoyment in programming, or fanatical pride in one's work. It was a slightly more complicated analogy than it may have seemed at first, and I certainly agree that programmers shouldn't be expected to work overtime--but some choose do, for reasons I find difficult to criticize. As you yourself say, "I work late because I want to". So I think we're agreed on that point. Unrelatedly, it's a head trip to meet someone familiar with the only thing I used to find when I googled my name. Thanks for that :)