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    While I'm all for programmers being proactive and not merely "taking orders from on high", the way you present this is professionally irresponsible and unethical. You're basically saying the OP should spend the employer's time and money not working on requested features but instead working on features s/he "personally wants", and then spend the employer's time and money removing those features. This doesn't even factor in potential defects that get added or other developer's time to code review/maintain this. I would fire a developer with the attitude you describe, particularly a junior one. Commented Feb 5, 2017 at 6:59
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    Well you're right in a way. Especially if the engineer goes off on his own without any sensibility to what the client's vision is. But don't sabotage what I said completely-- I merely said to go the "extra mile". So that means you take what your boss says and you expand on it. And in software, that's the difference between software that looks like trivial shit and software that looks like it's crafted by a professional. I know many developers that do "exactly what they're told" even if what they're told is complete garbage. Those developers never amount to anything. Commented Feb 5, 2017 at 7:11
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    There are responsible ways to do what you describe. Many times requirements leave a lot of room and using your judgment there to produce a more polished result (balanced against the effort, including maintenance effort, to achieve it) is a good thing. Proactively pointing out and fixing bugs is usually fine. Spending your own time to prototype a feature that you think is in the company's interest and presenting it to the team for possible inclusion is also fine. Your "personal wants" are irrelevant, the focus while your being paid should be on the business' interests. Commented Feb 5, 2017 at 7:12
  • See my second comment, for how I would present what I believe the idea you're trying to get at is. As I said, my issue is more with the way you presented it. Developers need some pride to know that they can make meaningful decisions, but humility to know that they (usually) don't have a broad picture on the business's goals or priorities. More senior developers are less likely to make bad decisions and more likely to know what the business's goals are and how to move toward them. Commented Feb 5, 2017 at 7:15
  • also note that my comment is for those wanting to transition to lead or consultant level. Companies specifically hire me FOR my opinion. Commented Feb 6, 2017 at 17:32