Comment by nomel

In our org, this was brought up. People who had problems, then fixed them, were the ones being seen and recognized by higher level management, and awarded for fixing the problems, when they, often, shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Now we have something akin to a "person that prevents problems" award. It's a nice gesture, but, even though I received one, I think it's mostly nonsense. You don't get the face time/experience presenting with the higher level managers. It's almost impossible to prove that you prevented catastrophes, by working extra hours, or doing the right thing. Nobody likes a "Hey look, I told you so!" sort of perspective, no matter how it's framed.

To me, this is the most gratification-limiting aspect of being a software engineer: time is required to test quality of foresight/design. Rewarding retroactively, for great past decisions, doesn't happen. There are systems I designed, when making a pittance for compensation, that's still being used a decade later, across multiple companies, almost entirely unmodified. That, now objectively, good work wasn't seen or recognized by anyone paying me at the time, and can't be seen by anyone now. I burned good time for a "good job me!" as a reward. As I get older, that mental masturbation seems less desirable, since it's usually at the expense of the surprisingly limited life credits that we spend on those tasks. But along with most other nerds, I can hardly stop myself because it's an innate obsession.