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Ah nice. Used to work in a large corporation with a major office in NYC (I am in London). Also recruiting C++ developers, had a few folks with 30+ years of exp

Ah nice. Used to work in a large corporation with a major office in NYC (I am in London). Also recruiting C++ developers, had a few folks with 30+ years of experience. I think the key is to have developers who are good, but not too great that they can pass interviews in other places (tech interviews are getting impossibly difficult nowadays). Give them decent work-life balance, decent pay/perks, and decent teammates/manager. They will stick around for a while. Not looking too hard and if they look there's a good chance it doesn't conclude (interviews are too time consuming with a family and too difficult). There's still quite a bit of attrition though. NYC has a lot of strong opportunities (FANG, banks, hedge funds) and C++ developers have niches in demand (finance/high performance). Top developers will get a better opportunity eventually. I've seen the case where another company decided to take over somebody or a whole team, it's unstoppable.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
A couple of them were really sharp, and now work for another heavy-duty (this time, German) engineering corporation. Not everyone wants to be a CTO. Many of us just want to do what we love, and be respected and supported, while doing it. For many people, that's a dream job. When I left my job, I could have gone on to management at another company, and be making fairly decent money. Instead, I decided to "retool" myself, and return to my production engineer roots. It's a field that is dominated by a lot of ruthless, young, hungry people (and a management culture that has adapted to this), and I may never get anyone to pay me to code ever again; even though I have the ability to make others a lot of money. But I've never been happier.
- user5994461 6y ago
  For some reasons this makes me think of the generational struggle. The difference between the 50-60 folks who bought a home before the bubble (if not multiple homes) and can be pseudo retired. Still working for another decade but typically not caring too much about salary. And the 30-40 folks who is facing the housing bubble with a lifelong mortgage and soon university fees for their children. Typically caring quite a bit about compensation because they're struggling to make ends meet. Sadly they really missed the boat if they stayed a decade at a company (with little raise/promotion). Obviously they're managed quite differently and have very different concerns in life.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago

A couple of them were really sharp, and now work for another heavy-duty (this time, German) engineering corporation. Not everyone wants to be a CTO. Many of us just want to do what we love, and be respected and supported, while doing it. For many people, that's a dream job. When I left my job, I could have gone on to management at another company, and be making fairly decent money. Instead, I decided to "retool" myself, and return to my production engineer roots. It's a field that is dominated by a lot of ruthless, young, hungry people (and a management culture that has adapted to this), and I may never get anyone to pay me to code ever again; even though I have the ability to make others a lot of money. But I've never been happier.

user5994461 6y ago
For some reasons this makes me think of the generational struggle. The difference between the 50-60 folks who bought a home before the bubble (if not multiple homes) and can be pseudo retired. Still working for another decade but typically not caring too much about salary. And the 30-40 folks who is facing the housing bubble with a lifelong mortgage and soon university fees for their children. Typically caring quite a bit about compensation because they're struggling to make ends meet. Sadly they really missed the boat if they stayed a decade at a company (with little raise/promotion). Obviously they're managed quite differently and have very different concerns in life.