Caffeinated Coder

What better way to unwind after a long day of dealing with annoying car salesmen than to catch up on a little blog reading? Having no car payments was nice while it lasted. Dang icy roads…sigh.

1. The Other Half of ‘Artists Ship‘ – A great postessay by Paul Graham about the hidden costs of excessive controls within organizations, especially when it comes to the productivity and morale of developers. Having personally had my spirit crushed by a number of Sarbanes-Oxley Nazis at my last job, I particularly appreciated his example of how SOX regulations have single-handedly destroyed the US IPO market.
2. Reginald Braythwayt’s resume – Whenever I felt the urge to feel vastly inferior about my career accomplishments as a developer, I used to peruse Scott Hanselman’s resume. Now I have a new tool to serve all of my self-esteem flagellation needs.
3. What’s the Value of a Big Bonus? – I love psychological research that challenges common sense. This NY Times article outlines a few studies done that suggest that higher compensation can actually lead to poorer performance when it comes to jobs that require higher cognitive skills. The possible reason? With high compensation comes high expectations, which leads to extreme stress, which then undermines performance. It’s a Zen thing…

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