>>It's true that there are a lot of people who got into the industry just because of the comp though :(
Lots of people are just tuned out. And just don't care. With or without the comp.
>>It comes back to the work itself being interesting and whether you actually care about the field that you are working in.
There was this HR in a company here in India. She spoke at length about what attracted people to IT. Basically the employees wanted the realisation that they were creating tremendous value for the company, at the same time earning very high, and of course wanted work life balance. It was more or less impossible to achieve this. There aren't even enough projects of substance to make this happen. At least not for everyone, all the time. The net result was people tuned out, or just don't involve themselves enough at their work, or associate the outcome of their work at personal level.
Another additional factor how quickly the product/projects get shut down/eol in our industry. There are not many things that last for years that you take pride building them.
Lots of people are just tuned out. And just don't care. With or without the comp.
>>It comes back to the work itself being interesting and whether you actually care about the field that you are working in.
There was this HR in a company here in India. She spoke at length about what attracted people to IT. Basically the employees wanted the realisation that they were creating tremendous value for the company, at the same time earning very high, and of course wanted work life balance. It was more or less impossible to achieve this. There aren't even enough projects of substance to make this happen. At least not for everyone, all the time. The net result was people tuned out, or just don't involve themselves enough at their work, or associate the outcome of their work at personal level.
Another additional factor how quickly the product/projects get shut down/eol in our industry. There are not many things that last for years that you take pride building them.