What would you choose? Extremely high salary or work satisfaction?

Question

Currently, I work for a company as a software developer that is shamefully overpays me. I earn about 3x the market average. But anything I do is futile.

There is a lot of opportunity to make our sw product great but the short-sightedness of management prevents any success.

It is very frustrating to see the great opportunities of product success go by just because we developers are not allowed to make things great.

What would you do? Give up the big bucks and search for a job where you can produce meaningful results?

Or get resistant, give up your commitment to produce great things (which is a core component of being good developer) and enjoy the money? Or just keep the money and keep trying until I get a heart attack?

Answer 1

My vote is to keep the money and do something meaningful in your spare time on some sort of open source project....

Answer 2

I would choose work satisfaction, no doubt. As a programmer one gets enough salary anyway, so what's the point of doing something you don't like?

Answer 3

Money makes people more greedy and proud. I'd choose the "enough money to get by, max work satisfaction" way.

Answer 4

I'd like to think I can be paid a reasonable salary, if not vastly competitive, and enjoy doing the job in the process.

If the work environment was too frustrating, I'd almost certainly quit, provided I could find another position - provided I can afford to live, I'd rather not burn out and shoot myself before I reach 30.

Answer 5

Work satisfaction. What is worth all the money if getting up for the hated office every morning is such a pain.

Answer 6

Save up and then launch your own private startup company that does things the correct way :)

Answer 7

Argh why can't we have both :(

Keep hammering about new ideas. If no response/denied work slower and eventually go. The market is really shrinking, so getting money is primary the case.

How to answer your own question: If you need the 3x money (vacantion etc) then stay. Else find something where u can provice input and don't go a lot on holiday.

Answer 8

I wish I had the luxury of such a choice in the first place :)

Answer 9

The best of all possible worlds is to endeavor to change your culture at work so that you can have both. I'd say find some like minded people, a manager with the willingness to take a chance, and a small project to try your ideas on, then...be successful! Success has a way of making inroads even in places that you thought were not possible. Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas is a book that may be helpful with this. Good luck!

Answer 10

If you get paid 3x the average programing salary, then you must have about 100-200K of extra income beyond what you need to live. Stay for a while, pretend, save the extra money, and then use it to start your own business.

Answer 11

Think of it this way.

You are making more money than other peers in your field. But the management is (in your opinion) is a bottle neck.

Suggestion #1: Why don't you take over the management position and lead project team the way you want?

Moreover, if that is not for you, you can always use the money you have saved(you must have saved a lot by now, since you get 3x the market average ;)) and do whatever you want with it.

Suggestion #2: Go out there, start a company and do you own thing.

Answer 12

In the end it always comes down to job satisfaction. But I'd certainly put up with a few years of being grossly overpaid first, if I had the chance! I'd probably work on something more meaningful on the side...

Answer 13

Take the money.

If only so that when you quit the job, after it has made you miserable, you'll no longer have this annoying "what if" feeling when making the same choice again in the future.

Answer 14

I prefer my current situation... good pay, and work satisfaction. Why choose? :D

Answer 15

Working for money might lead to lesser interest in profession over time, and before you know it you might forget why you were interested in programming in the first place.

One solution to that is to become involved in side projects (open Source, etc) after work. Otherwise, work satisfaction comes always first.

Answer 16

I've actually faced this choice twice in my past.

The first time, I was very unhappy, but let the company entice me to stay by boosting my salary. I learned a valuable lesson: throwing more money at me didn't solve any of the problems that made me unhappy in the first place.

So, when I became unhappy the second time around, I knew what to do. I went looking for new work. Given a choice, I'd have made the same amount of money. But I knew that job satisfaction was far more important. So I took a position with a company that was doing the kind of work I wanted to do, for less money.

I've regretted neither decision. In both cases, I got the opportunity to learn more, to be challenged every day, and to be a more active member of the decision making team.

My experience is in no way universally applicable. But it was a valuable learning experience for me: I'd much rather be happy for a moderately smaller amount of money than miserable making more money.

Answer 17

You situation of making 3x the market rate is not very typical. In most cases the difference is a few percent, in which case by all means I would go with what I enjoy more. But, 3x is quite a lot of money.

Unless there is actual malice involved, you always have the power to make your work environment better through your own actions. Even just saying to yourself that you can make things better will be enough to improve your perspective.

Answer 18

I'm an Ayn Rand guy so in the end it's all about the money you make :) Just continue to make that paper and search for a new job that will combine both money and satisfaction. You have time on your side and can afford to be choosey about what opportunities you pursue. Employers eat it up when an job seekers are completely comfortable in their current position.

Oh and the 3x the market average...you are way overestimating. There is such a disparity in developer salaries because there is such a disparity in talent. Be cognizant that just because your 150k is 3x "market average" doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of other talented developers out there pulling down just as much.

Answer 19

If it's true that you're 3X market average, my advice would be to bank it like mad. Don't assume that it'll always be so. Be frugal - don't buy all the latest toys, don't have the biggest flat screen TV on the market.

Feel fortunate that you have a gig when so many people are going without. There are a lot of talented folks on the street these days. There are also a lot of people in places like Bangalore that would be thrilled to endure your situation for far less. Don't take it for granted.

Start imagining what would be better and make a plan to get there. One year, two, five - start planning now.

Answer 20

Stay for a while, pretend, save the extra money, and then use it to start your own business.

My vote is to keep the money

Save up

Take the money

I'm an Ayn Rand guy so in the end it's all about the money you make

If it's true that you're 3X market average, my advice would be to bank it like mad.

Wow, so many selfish people here! The next step beyond making large amounts of money is not "find a way to make even more money!" There are a boatload of better things you can do with money than enrich yourself.

To answer the OP's post:

I was in a position where I had the opportunity to work at a very rewarding small business where the pay was slightly below the median, and another opportunity to work at a job where I knew I would not enjoy myself but the pay was extremely good. I chose the money. I've had that choice in my life a few times, and I choose money everytime.

I will admit: I am a miser of the unhappiest sorts and purposefully minimize my expenses by living an ascetic lifestyle. No real surprise why I'm still single, right?

I've made a respectable fortune by comparison to others, but I'm not rich. I give almost all of my surplus income away to animal rights and anti-famine charities overseas. I don't have any other motivation to being a miser apart from wanting to give more and more of it away.

You don't need to be a hippy like me, but if you are lucky enough to make obscene amounts of money, use to it improve the satisfaction of others instead of yourself, go out and save a few lives.

Answer 21

I will go with the money... as what i think is if you will have lots of money you may do something worth to give you satisfaction.. but if you have job satisfaction nd no money you will lose you self-esteem and family respect

Answer 22

Keep the money (at least for a while), but don't spend more than you would earn in an average job. At least not for recurring costs. You don't want to find yourself locked in your current job because your rent, your car, your girls etc. cost three times the average salary.

Answer 23

From your question ,

There is a lot of opportunity to make our sw product great but the short-sightedness of management prevents any success.

It is very frustrating to see the great opportunities of product success go by just because we developers are not allowed to make things great.

Lets not talk about the money part for a moment.

C'mon Ólafur, don't you see the opportunity here?. You are getting a chance to fight against odds to do the right thing. Become the drive and take it in your hands to steer the team to the right track.

Create meaningful POCs , exciting presentations etc. to showcase your solutions and pitch it to your management. From the second line , its evident that you are in a position to see great opportunities of product success which the management doesnt have an insight to. AFAI believe, you are in a highly advantageous position.

Above all these do you think that if you just leave the job, these troubles will cease?. From my personal experience you will meet such people , in almost , well, all the companies.