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  • true, but I found that even high salary is not always a continuing motivator. Sure I gave you a great starting salary, and maybe even a few raises, but those are at most annual in most companies... 3-4 months from now after a few all-nighters and pain in the neck testers/users, you start to wonder if Company B might pay as much for less stress since the present company has not acknowledged your hard work in 4 months. On the lines of asking them though... I think that could help. Someone on the team might really want a Bed Bath & Beyond GC instead of Amazon... Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 14:54
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    @IPX nothing is going to be an incentive to work at a crappy company where deathmarch is the norm. Management is the problem not the employee's attitudes. Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 15:05
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    @IPX Ares: lol - my list was a conjunction, not a disjunction. It's not high salary or milestone bonuses, it's high salary and milestone bonuses... and equity, etc. Start-ups have a high probability of failure, and a poor track record of rewarding the people that did the real work (c.f. Skype's equity "clawback" policy + mass firings before buyout last week). But by all means continuously demonstrate that you value your developers! Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 15:09
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    My brother is given a bonus in the form of company stock. He's no programmer but it's clear incentive to work harder. More stock you own, naturally the more you're going to want the company to succeed. Of course you could sell it, but it's a little anticlimactic to do so after having being told that you're appreciated by the company. Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 15:46
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    What we think we want might not be what actually motives us. For years I bemoaned the fact that I'd never been paid for overtime. Then I landed a job where I'm permitted flexible working hours and I realised that my personal time was actually more valuable to me than it was to my company. Now I don't mind working long hours to meet a deadline, since I know I'm expected to take those hours back in under-time later. Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 17:34