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Comment by silentcylon | Hacker News Reader

Do you ever wish to work on something that hits more personally for you? Would that motivate you more than just the pay?

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I have. If I truly believe in the "product" and am treated like I am an owner and not a minion than it is different.

edit

by owner, I don't mean of the company; rather the product. I find developers spend most of their time in the app and know when something works or doesn't. They can have a "hunch" when a feature is off, or the experience is wrong. being empowered to make decisions and tweaks without someone else getting upset is invaluable

I would whole heartily agree with this. I see a lack of company delegation and trust to give Ownership over to its people when those people are full well, if not more than the company, able to make the important decisions. Ownership and Owning it, whatever it may be (project, product, architecture, etc) is important to driving self improvement for people and advancing their careers. I think it is great that you acknowledge this and feel this way. I hope that your company realizes it and values your drive, opinions, and decisions.

Personally, it's about ownership.

I'm an independent contributor, a dev. I don't own my employer's business beyond some token stocks. They give me value in the form of money because I give them more value through my work.

It's ultimately prostitution, and that's OK. They pay me well and respect my time/skills, I give them 100% for 8h day. But I won't go "above and beyond" for someone else's business...

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