I worked in finance, where incentive pay is substantial, and it has benefits as well as problems. Salaries in finance are low-average by NYC/Chicago standards,

I worked in finance, where incentive pay is substantial, and it has benefits as well as problems. Salaries in finance are low-average by NYC/Chicago standards, while bonuses are high-- starting at 25-75% for junior positions, and rising to 1000+% at a senior level. Good bonuses have a positive effect on morale, but the real kick finance gets out of the system is in recruiting. The possibility to take home a $1 million bonus check as a fifth-year employee, brings in a lot of bright, young people who don't know what else to do with their lives but are willing to work very hard. Finance's rather unique compensation system certainly stokes people to put out a lot of effort. The downside is that, since everyone is after the same things, politics come more into play-- if someone feels shortchanged in project selection, like he's not being groomed to be a future rock star, he's going to do shitty work. In tech, people are after interesting work, and everyone has a different opinion about what's interesting, so the game is not zero-sum; in finance, they're mostly looking to advance their careers and make money... which approaches zero-sum as the size of the company increases.