Fully on-board with the annoyance at this equilibrium. I don’t see a better way, unfortunately, with the information and motivation asymmetry between software employers and employees, both of which have large variances in quality.
I’ve focused on the technical and social/team aspects of software development as a (very) senior IC, rather than as a manager in title. Even so, I’ve been deeply involved in hiring, organizing, motivating, and aligning teams for a number of large projects. I’ve found a very strong correlation between the signaling of “work ethic” in terms of energy and hours and the actual performance and impact of an employee. Like all heuristics, it’s nowhere near 100%, and it’s sad that there’s no easy way to identify the exceptions. Sad as it is, it’s true—as an employer of software engineers, I would prefer not to hire part-time.
Which means the expected-productivity curve for employers is nonlinear, so there’s no reasonable way to make the pay/effort ratio constant.
100% (or more—this justifies hyperbole) on applying “work ethic” to other aspects of life. This difficult tradeoff of motivated effort on behalf of others applies to housekeeping, care for partner/children, some parts of hobbies, and a lot of other things. It’s not work-for-money, it’s work-for-others-preferences.
Fully on-board with the annoyance at this equilibrium. I don’t see a better way, unfortunately, with the information and motivation asymmetry between software employers and employees, both of which have large variances in quality.
I’ve focused on the technical and social/team aspects of software development as a (very) senior IC, rather than as a manager in title. Even so, I’ve been deeply involved in hiring, organizing, motivating, and aligning teams for a number of large projects. I’ve found a very strong correlation between the signaling of “work ethic” in terms of energy and hours and the actual performance and impact of an employee. Like all heuristics, it’s nowhere near 100%, and it’s sad that there’s no easy way to identify the exceptions. Sad as it is, it’s true—as an employer of software engineers, I would prefer not to hire part-time.
Which means the expected-productivity curve for employers is nonlinear, so there’s no reasonable way to make the pay/effort ratio constant.
100% (or more—this justifies hyperbole) on applying “work ethic” to other aspects of life. This difficult tradeoff of motivated effort on behalf of others applies to housekeeping, care for partner/children, some parts of hobbies, and a lot of other things. It’s not work-for-money, it’s work-for-others-preferences.