6 ms·
Reward does track merit as well, that part has already been accepted as a topic of negotiation. For example, see people who are given massive retention grants a
by waterlesscloud 14y ago
Reward does track merit as well, that part has already been accepted as a topic of negotiation. For example, see people who are given massive retention grants at big companies. Little risk, high reward, on the basis of merit.
Where software does mirror the film/music industry is that the marginal cost of production is very low. Copy 1 is very expensive, copy 10,000 much less so. The concept of residuals is to capture some of the resulting profit for the team that created the original work.
It's not a ridiculous request. Of course there will be pushback. But that doesn't make it wrong.
- tptacek 14y agoThey are being given massive retention grants because of opportunity cost, which is a form of risk. "Right" and "wrong" are moral terms. Compensation structure for developers isn't a moral issue. There are few other markets in the US economy where labor has the mobility, upside potential, and control that software developers do. It's not "wrong" to ask for royalties. It's just that most of the time, supply & demand dictates that developers won't get them, because they're asking for royalties on top of an already generous (relative to the whole economy) comp package.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoSo we're oversupplied with developers?
- tptacek 14y agoWhat does "oversupplied" mean?
- waterlesscloud 14y agoDo we have enough good developers that compensation should be held more or less as it is now? Or does demand exceed the supply of good developers such that compensation systems are up for negotiation?
- tptacek 14y agoI'm confused by the question. Compensation for developers is a consequence of the available supply.
- barrkel 14y agoCompensation structure in an overall economy is a moral issue. We currently use supply and demand (roughly) to set it. But there is no particular moral worth in using that mechanism. It's rather that other mechanisms tried seem to have even bigger problems.