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You should be able to measure burnout by watching employee churn. Something software development is notorious for. I don’t think people jump companies every yea

You should be able to measure burnout by watching employee churn. Something software development is notorious for. I don’t think people jump companies every year and a half in most industries.

ttamslam 5y ago
Although I also think some part of that has to do with raise seeking. Lots of confounding variables at play.
sethammons 5y ago
That's a very interesting insight! I was thinking of leading indicators and wasn't thinking lagging indicators like churn.
wonderwonder 5y ago
My last job lost all Sr. developers including me (I think 7 of 12 total developers) in an 8 month period. Everyone was absolutely fried and could not go on. Some of those people had been there between 4 and 10 years.
mgkimsal 5y ago
they would if they could get a 20% raise without much fuss. was reading a reddit post on an airline host who was 'on the road' to 6 figure income - just needed to stay with the same airline for another 5-6 years. "If you switch to another airline, you'll start at the bottom again". It's so strange to think that goes on, but apparently it does. Apparently pilots, to some degree as well. Even if you had 15 years of flawless piloting for airline X, moving to airline Y, you'd start off near the bottom again. What other professions are like this?
- rightbyte 5y ago
  It makes sense from the company perspective. Pay for experience with your things, coworkers and processes - reward loyalty. I think it would make even more sense for software developement, since the code base usually is so extremely specific that there are no other experts then those who work with it. Still the best way to increase wage is to change job to something you have no clue in until a year or two working with it. Saving pennies for a dollar.
  - mgkimsal 5y ago
    I can see the "keep people tied to the same company" side as having company benefits, sure. And yeah, almost any existing project I've come in to takes months (minimum) to understand the interplay of business/code/company/process/etc.

You should be able to measure burnout by watching employee churn. Something software development is notorious for. I don’t think people jump companies every year and a half in most industries.

ttamslam 5y ago

Although I also think some part of that has to do with raise seeking. Lots of confounding variables at play.

sethammons 5y ago

That's a very interesting insight! I was thinking of leading indicators and wasn't thinking lagging indicators like churn.

wonderwonder 5y ago

My last job lost all Sr. developers including me (I think 7 of 12 total developers) in an 8 month period. Everyone was absolutely fried and could not go on. Some of those people had been there between 4 and 10 years.

mgkimsal 5y ago

they would if they could get a 20% raise without much fuss. was reading a reddit post on an airline host who was 'on the road' to 6 figure income - just needed to stay with the same airline for another 5-6 years. "If you switch to another airline, you'll start at the bottom again". It's so strange to think that goes on, but apparently it does. Apparently pilots, to some degree as well. Even if you had 15 years of flawless piloting for airline X, moving to airline Y, you'd start off near the bottom again. What other professions are like this?

rightbyte 5y ago
It makes sense from the company perspective. Pay for experience with your things, coworkers and processes - reward loyalty. I think it would make even more sense for software developement, since the code base usually is so extremely specific that there are no other experts then those who work with it. Still the best way to increase wage is to change job to something you have no clue in until a year or two working with it. Saving pennies for a dollar.
- mgkimsal 5y ago
  I can see the "keep people tied to the same company" side as having company benefits, sure. And yeah, almost any existing project I've come in to takes months (minimum) to understand the interplay of business/code/company/process/etc.