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Something I always wanted to do as a manager was to offer not just great hardware, but essentially an allowance. That is, the developer is expected to buy and
by kemiller 15y ago
Something I always wanted to do as a manager was to offer not just great hardware, but essentially an allowance. That is, the developer is expected to buy and maintain their own hardware, but they get a budget. Say, $3000 at signing, $1500 annual refresh, and you have to pay it back if you quit or get fired for cause within the first 12 months. Coder gets to use whatever hardware they please, and keep it. I have predictable support costs, and in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty cheap perk.
Never could convince my superiors. But maybe when I start my own...
- dsmithn 15y agoSounds like a good idea, but I would not want to risk getting stuck paying $3,000 for a machine I don't need anymore.
- kemiller 15y agoDon't... need? What? ;) So, if you already have hardware you like, use that and take the money as bonus. Or get a big monitor.
- miahi 15y agoThat's a very nice idea, but it works only for 10% of the developers. Not all the developers are hardware geeks. I usually upgrade my own machines, but I have to answer awkward questions from my managers ("why the hell do you need an internal 3G modem? don't you have the USB stick?" to "can you really have two hard drives in a 15" laptop?"). Sometimes I just buy the hardware and ask for a refund later, it's easier to prove that it's useful.
- gaius 15y agoC'mon, everyone knows enough to buy a laptop. They would do it for themselves anyway. Even if that's just going to the Apple Store and saying "give me a laptop" (which BTW is what I do, I have no pretensions about knowing anything about laptops).