Questions tagged [motivation]

Motivation is the driving force which help causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well.

Motivation is the driving force which help causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion.

Source: Wikipedia

33 questions
45
votes
20 answers

How do you stay motivated for hobby projects?

I started seriously programming as a hobbiest, student and then intern about 4 years ago and I've always done small projects on the side as a learning exercise. Schools over now though, and I spend my days at work as a software developer. I would…
aubreyrhodes
  • 1,143
  • 10
  • 13
30
votes
20 answers

How do you tackle really bizarre errors that keep you puzzled for more than 10 hours?

You know them, those errors that make NO sense. Where it seems like a gremlin just jumped deep inside your chips and messed up something. Do you take a walk, write stuff, call an uncle?
29
votes
10 answers

Getting coders to do code review

I am running a project where I pay developers to contribute to my semi open source project. My problem is that it is easy to hire developers, but it is very difficult to get anyone to do code reviewing. I have repeatedly attempted to get the senior…
David
  • 4,449
  • 6
  • 35
  • 48
22
votes
14 answers

Lost Interest in Programming

I am a computer science student currently in my 2nd year of bachelors. My problem is pretty straight forward yet still so far has not been self-resolvable. It is simply is that I am tired of programming. I don't know why but it just happened. When I…
xtremePro
21
votes
21 answers

If you were the manager of a team of 25 developers, how would you motivate them?

Imagine yourself hired by a new startup backed with few millions coming from venture capitalists. Your mission: organize the development of the next killer app. 25 developers is too much to take care of each individually, so what decision(s) you…
user2567
20
votes
11 answers

What is the motivation that makes you to stick with current job?

There are lot of people who are still working in the same company for more than 10 years. What is the motivation that makes you to stick with current job ?
Siva Arunachalam
  • 675
  • 1
  • 6
  • 11
20
votes
10 answers

Motivating developers in a project perceived as dull?

As a manager, I can't always end up generating work that'd be cutting edge. Some of the projects do run on maintenance mode, and generate a healthy free cash flow for the company. As a developer what would it take for you to stick around in this…
Fanatic23
  • 7,533
  • 4
  • 31
  • 56
19
votes
12 answers

How to get motivation and time to learn outside of work?

I work 40 hours as a programmer, and by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is code some more. However, I feel like I am not getting better, and I do love software engineering. So how do you guys find the time/motivation to improve your…
Lucy M.
  • 215
  • 2
  • 3
19
votes
11 answers

How To Explain To My Dad What I have Programmed

Possible Duplicate: My Dad is impatient with the pace of my learning to program. What do I do? I am 14 and have been studying programming for 4 months now (3 months Python, 1 Month of Ruby). I haven't been pushed by my parents to do it, I took it…
Joe Loo
  • 322
  • 1
  • 9
19
votes
6 answers

Ideas to get you programming mojo back?

I've been a professional programmer for many many years (20 years) and now I've lost interest, at the moment I have trouble even knocking out a few 100 lines of simple stuff. It will take me 3-4 days rather than 30-40mins Anyone have any tips how to…
Adrian Cornish
  • 309
  • 2
  • 7
17
votes
7 answers

Could an internal rep, voting and badges encourage good programming practices?

Just thinking out aloud - we programmers love all this voting/badges/rep stuff so could a scheme like this be introduced into a companies code review process to encourage better coding. Something like You (or others on your behalf) can post a…
Ryan
  • 320
  • 1
  • 9
14
votes
11 answers

How to make Classic ASP interesting if you are stuck with it?

I used to work on a really small outsourcing company (4 programmers and the boss), then when the stress and the frequent long shifts made the situation unbearable I made the switch to a better paid job with a more relaxed schedule that allows me…
Saul Delgado
  • 351
  • 1
  • 2
  • 8
14
votes
7 answers

Project In A Week / development bootcamp

Our team is thinking of doing a "Project In A Week" (bootcamp), and I'm interested to know if anyone else has experience of doing this or has any advice? The idea behind it is to get away from the distractions of the office, motivate each other, and…
9
votes
4 answers

Sharing programming fees with a fellow software developer

My question relates to how I should share the fees paid by clients to me and a fellow programmer, both of whom are freelancers. I've thought of a few options, but I'm in a dilemma as to which one would be the most motivating for both of us. 1) The…
Naweed Chougle
  • 562
  • 5
  • 12
9
votes
5 answers

Agile MVP (Most Valuable Player/Programmer)

Recently I've been involved in an agile project (using scrum) where management came up with the idea that the team would nominate a developer 'MVP' as well as a QA 'MVP' at the end of each sprint, voted on by the team. The MVP then gets a small…
Dustin Kendall
  • 275
  • 1
  • 3
  • 7
1
2 3