"Why bother going above and beyond?"
A few months ago, I received a reply from someone on LinkedIn in response to a comment I made...
The context of the post was the idea that, to get noticed at your job, "just doing your job" isn't enough.
Which I agreed with! So I had said in my comment:
Devs should try to avoid being the one who "just does what they're told to do".
Admittedly, I realized later how vague this was, which led to this person's reply:
What's wrong [with just doing your job]? If a Dev goes above and beyond his duty to do more, does he get paid more? Does the PM remember his "contribution" come appraisal / raise time? Does his extra effort get visibility into C-suites, or do they look at him like something they need to scrape off their shoes?
The IT department in any company is the most maligned since we're not "highly visible".
I replied to this with a long comment that far surpassed the LinkedIn character limit, which nobody else saw. But before getting to it, I wanted to explore this idea a little more, because I know it can hit home to a lot of devs out there.
"Why bother doing more if I'm not going to get paid for it?
It makes sense, right? If you put in X amount of hours every day and always get paid Y, what's the point in increasing your input if the output is always the same? Especially if you think that doing extra work won't get you noticed, or worse, makes people think you have a high tolerance for working more (so now you're expected to put in that much effort every day).
"The reward for finishing your work is more work," as they say.
And, well, that's the thing. What do you mean by "doing more" here? Doing more of the same thing or doing other tasks? And, is there really no benefit to doing more of specific tasks?
So this was my response:
There is nuance in what "doing more" means here.
It sounds like you're referring more to having more output in your work (like doing more tickets or working faster), which unfortunately does not always lead to raises or increase your visibility.
Growth (and raises and appraisals) in my experience happen when one takes an active approach in:
- Identifying who the decision makers are or those who can help you grow faster
- Understand what is valued by them (or the company in general) and what outcomes they're looking for
- Having conversations and doing actions that lead to those outcomes OR
- Doing things that give you more visibility of the work you're already doing
So in this case (and what I was more closely referring to), "doing more" might mean things like:
- Participating in mentoring programs (so you're actively helping others gain new skills, with the benefit of you becoming a "multiplier" instead of just an individual contributor)
- Notice a risk in the project that could derail the project or even call out scope creep (things that make PMs' lives easier when they're brought up)
- Some other third thing, the LinkedIn character limit won't allow me to type 😄
But let me be clear that there isn't anything wrong with just doing your work (especially if you have other priorities). It's just harder to justify and negotiate raises and growth opportunities if you just concentrate on what is needed and not on what could be improved, you know?
Now, as with anything in life, my outlook has nuance and is context-based
But I wanted to, on top of the full reply I posted, give out another way of thinking about it:
It pays (long term) to look for work and tasks that help you practice your craft, challenge yourself, upskill yourself, or give you solid experience. No matter what you're paid for it right now. The best game is the one where you can always win.
If a company truly values you and is able to see your progress, then it's much easier to make your case and get promotions/raises.
If they don't value you or they downplay your progress and your new skills, and you don't get promotions/raises, well, you have new skills you can use to get a better, higher-paying job!
It's a win-win either way. Don't think about it as "I'm just doing more work for the company for free."
Think about it as "This will help me become better/give me more experience/help me learn something I need to get to the next level". You're building yourself up with every new task. And if you're not, look for tasks that do that.
Just make sure it's sustainable and don't overwork yourself, alright?
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mauro Accorinti,