When my cowokers and manager make me feel like we are in this together and treat me like a human not just someone taking in coffee and pumping out code
I work best and am most motivated when I am well rested. When I get very tired I find myself feeling almost depressed and am unmotivated to do anything.
When I've got a clear understanding of the design, including where and why tradeoffs were made (ie, we chose X method to optimize CPU time over memory). I enjoy just cranking out code, solving small problems, enjoying the fruits of good architectural design and planning.
I'm at my least motivated when I'm frustrated, which usually involves pre-code planning phase but feeling like I don't have enough information about the project requirements to choose; not enough time to R&D between the choices also promotes this frustration.
I've generally found this form of decision roadblock to be my worst (and maybe only?) writers block.
When I feel supported by management, even when it's not something they want to hear -- also when that support leads to a good work-life balance. I'm not talking anything crazy, just I put in my 8 hours so don't call me when I'm at home.
Too many managers fail to realize that when an engineer is not in the office, often times they are thinking of the problems they will need to solve next. A little outside time thinking generally leads to better solutions then "we need this now" attitude that I see so many inexperienced managers do.
Having my name attached to anything that gets put in front of people who I know makes me want to put up my best work. It's motivating because I don't want to not embarrass myself to friends and acquaintances and on the flip side I want to blow them away w/ the quality my work.
If you read carefully most of the higher rated answers (name attached to work, management listen to me, etc) here can be summed to one primal thing: people want to feel they are important. That's what I also want and where I do my best.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 47.4 ms ] thread- when I help my colleagues to grow professionally and personally,
- strong desire to deliver a sophisticated piece of tech or master a technology.
I'm at my least motivated when I'm frustrated, which usually involves pre-code planning phase but feeling like I don't have enough information about the project requirements to choose; not enough time to R&D between the choices also promotes this frustration.
I've generally found this form of decision roadblock to be my worst (and maybe only?) writers block.
Too many managers fail to realize that when an engineer is not in the office, often times they are thinking of the problems they will need to solve next. A little outside time thinking generally leads to better solutions then "we need this now" attitude that I see so many inexperienced managers do.