Why Engineers Stay in Work the Market Will Not Pay For
Why do engineers keep accepting work that depreciates their skills?
They know the work is tedious and that other postings pay more for skills they no longer have. Pushing back, asking for a component customers use, or leaving are available. Most days the steady paycheck and the familiar codebase win. They stay indispensable to a system that makes them worthless in the open market, and they trade career value for being called the person who keeps the lights on. About 89% of large US companies use goal-based incentive plans, and roughly 70% pay bonuses at target or above regardless of actual performance, so the engineer maintaining the connection gets the same review as the engineer shipping features customers pay for.
What should an engineer do when the frustration shows up?
The frustration is the signal that the work has no demand, so the skills have no market. Complaining without action teaches the company that engineers will accept depreciating work, and it teaches the engineer that the situation is someone else's fault. The change is to push for different work, have the conversation about customer-facing components, or leave. Human capital can appreciate after it has depreciated. The same person can change the environment: different books, different content, and filtering which thoughts get attention.
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