I saw a tweet today about the top reasons people leave companies, and it got me thinking.
I would agree that not having a large impact and/or not growing are major reasons why developers leave companies, but I think there is a deeper reason behind why this happens. In my mind, there are companies which are "tech-first" and then there are companies where the technical stack and resources are simply not as high of a priority.
It all comes down to where the company gets its revenue, and how closely tied that revenue is to the quality of the technology. This ultimately decides how high of a priority management puts on keeping the technical team and the developers happy.
Some examples below (you can skip the next two paragraphs if you already get what I'm talking about)
For example, a government contracting company which creates many apps in a year for various departments is unlikely to be tech-first because they never have a lot of time to polish and maintain their products, because they are jumping from one project to another too quickly. Their top priority is to deliver to the government on time, and keep winning new contracts.
Another example might be a company that makes hospital content management systems. Their top priority is keeping their customers happy, but rarely will they want to modify the interface or make dramatic changes to the system because it will directly affect doctors who are trying to treat their patients and don't have time to learn how to use a new CMS.
In the long term, I think its more difficult for developers to grow and thrive in a company that isn't tech-first. But I wonder if there are also multiple tiers beyond tech-first as well. Are there "tech-second" and "tech-third" companies? How often do companies say they are tech-first but really are not? Many companies want to be seen as tech-first but below the surface might not be quite so shiny.
Some years ago it may have been pretty easy to identify companies which take their technology seriously, just by asking about things like Agile and seeing how they respond. However, I think this has become more difficult as the Agile methodology has become more widespread. What strategies have you used to tell whether a company is tech-first or not? Do you think developers can thrive in companies which are not tech-first? Why? There's a lot to unpack, and I would love to hear from the community on this subject.
Top comments (0)