"many programmers work in businesses where software is a cost center. If you want to make money as a programmer, you need to work at a company where software is a generator of profit and negotiate compensation aggressively after demonstrating your value."
This is right on. Looking back to when I was finishing my degree an older friend of mine advised that if possibly you shouldn't work for a company who's primary income stream isn't what you do. I still think this is a fantastic suggestion. Not everyone can be an important member of the R&D group for their employer, but if you've got the chops why shouldn't you be?
I find that doing that you get the best of both worlds. You're valued enough that you get shielded from most of the office prattle and politics, you usually report very high up the hierarchy ( I've never reported less than one level down from executive team, and usually its been directly to a C-level position), and these teams tend to be full of others who know their shit and will make you better. Of course the compensation is usually quite good too, and bonus you're unlikely to be held to a standard soul sucking 9-5 schedule, or God forbid have to be on call.
Actually, being in the R&D group pretty much guarantees that you aren't in the income stream. You are in the futuristic stuff stream. If costs need to be cut, guess what impacts current revenues the least?
I'll grant you that. If times get hard future revenue generation can often be sacrificed to make sure that the business can get through the "now" part. I think I'd likely look at that as a blessing, if things are going downhill for everyone at least you're lucky enough to know and get out early.
Also, I should mention that in my case the research generated is often used as an intelligence source for the current products. In the early days of my career my teams research resulted in a constant stream of snort rules, vulnerability discoveries, and bypass techniques that often made their way into the products/services of the company. Those 2-3 times a week updates being pushed down to client devices were a big part of the perceived value that the customers received.
Modern software and service driven models mean that there doesn't have to be much of a gap between research and deployment.
This is right on. Looking back to when I was finishing my degree an older friend of mine advised that if possibly you shouldn't work for a company who's primary income stream isn't what you do. I still think this is a fantastic suggestion. Not everyone can be an important member of the R&D group for their employer, but if you've got the chops why shouldn't you be?
I find that doing that you get the best of both worlds. You're valued enough that you get shielded from most of the office prattle and politics, you usually report very high up the hierarchy ( I've never reported less than one level down from executive team, and usually its been directly to a C-level position), and these teams tend to be full of others who know their shit and will make you better. Of course the compensation is usually quite good too, and bonus you're unlikely to be held to a standard soul sucking 9-5 schedule, or God forbid have to be on call.