Why is the company’s computer stuck-because of the lack of an engineer’s culture

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Recently, when doing technical training for some companies, I found that many companies are still facing these old problems: back painful chairs, stuttered computers, small-size monitors (24 inches), and networks that can’t check information, resulting in low R&D efficiency and employee satisfaction. Low degree and high turnover rate.
What kind of hardware and software the company provides can attract more talents? How can a small company with no money create a geek atmosphere? This article will give a plan.

International first-line company

International first-tier companies provide employees with first-class hardware facilities, such as Google provides:

Free three meals (lamb chops, big lobster, crayfish, etc.)
Swimming pool, beach volleyball court, gym
Lifting desk (standing office), ergonomic chair (10,000 yuan, Herman Miller)
Highly equipped with Macbook Pro, iMac, PC (gLinux, Windows is prohibited)
Display: 1 x 32 inches, or 2 x 27 inches

Domestic first-line company

Domestic first-line companies provide employees with domestic first-class hardware facilities, such as Tencent provides:

Free breakfast and dinner (fried dishes, steaks, salads, etc.)
Gym, basketball court, indoor rock climbing
Lifting desk (standing office), ergonomic chair (2000 yuan, Baoyou)
High-end Macbook Pro (the production date is over 3 years, eliminated and given to employees), etc.
Display: 27 inches

First-class startup company

The founders of first-class startups often come from executives who have worked in first-line companies for many years. Recruitment is also aimed at first-line company employees, so the salary and software and hardware facilities are equally excellent or even better. For example, the short video venture of the well-known product manager "Pure Silver V" (Cat Cake App, acquired by Tencent in two years) provides these:

Because of the blessing of strong dual technology partners, we respect the engineer culture and value the opinions of engineers. I am a first-class product manager myself, and I am proud of the unparalleled efficiency of project management, and the technical partners are also willing to teach and solve puzzles. Working with good people is a shortcut for you to improve yourself. The engineer’s equipment is an optional computer configuration worth 20,000 yuan, usually iMac 4K screen + second monitor. Salary level: 250,000-45 million annual salary, early full option

Hardware budget equals monthly salary

Why can first-class companies provide good office facilities? This is determined by the per capita profit (for startups, the target per capita profit), such as:

In 2020, Google’s per capita gross profit (EBITDA) is approximately RMB 4.6 million, and the median annual salary of 135,000 employees is approximately RMB 1.7 million;
In 2020, Tencent's per capita gross profit (EBITDA) is about 2 million yuan, and the average annual salary of 85,000 employees is about 600,000 yuan (company expenditure is about 800,000 yuan);

The domestic first-class company provides an office hardware budget of 20,000-30,000 yuan/person, which is equivalent to the monthly salary of a mid-level engineer, and it is guaranteed to be scrapped for 3 years.

According to the concept of "Hardware Budget = Intermediate Monthly Salary", companies can quickly arrive at a budget:

For second-tier companies, with a monthly salary of 7,000 for junior engineers, 15,000 for intermediate, and 21,000 for senior, the hardware budget is 15,000;
Third-tier companies, with a monthly salary of 5,000 for junior engineers, 10,000 for intermediate, and 10,000 for senior5, the hardware budget is 10,000;
This algorithm is very simple. When the company has new employees, IT staff will buy computers, which leads to some problems:

IT staff do not understand what kind of computer programmers need, and the money is not spent, but everyone is not satisfied;
If the company has no money, the new computer it buys is not good enough, and the work efficiency is lower than that of its peers, which is a vicious circle;
The company has no money, so it is reluctant to scrap the computer for 3 years, and it becomes more and more stuck;
As a result, like a certain Lang company, it was complained about "the company's computer is stuck," and the brain drained.

Are there any programs that save money and are geeks? Actually there is.

Money-saving geek program

When I was the CTO of a grassroots startup company, I realized very good hardware facilities for only RMB 3,000 per person:

Computers: Employees bring their own computers or buy new computers in installments (over 5,000 yuan). The company will reimburse them monthly, 200 yuan per month for PCs and 300 yuan per month for Macs. The reimbursement will stop after 3 years on the date of listing (if the amount is reported in advance, Also stop), then buy a new computer and continue to reimburse; students who don’t have a computer, such as interns, are rented out by the company (usually more than 200 yuan/month, and the configuration is lower than the one they bought).
Monitor: The company purchases a 34-inch hairtail screen. The domestic brand DCI-P3 has a color gamut of about 2300 yuan (so cheap? Yes, many CTOs don’t understand. They only know to buy the expensive and small Dell business model. In fact, for programmers: the size is the largest important).
Keyboard: Although the mechanical keyboard feels good, it is noisy, so the company purchases a static capacitor keyboard, which is about 700 yuan for a domestic brand (a brand named after a daughter). The number of keys is 108, 87, 66, and it turns out that the 87 key is the most popular among programmers.
Chairs: The chairs provided by the co-working space are not bad and have not been repurchased. If repurchased, it will cost about 1,000 yuan/person.

result:

Everyone generally buys a game book of about 7,000 yuan, and the monthly reimbursement is 200 yuan. The reimbursement of 7,200 yuan for 3 years is just over. With the display and keyboard, the company’s 3-year expenditure is 10,000 yuan (actually, it saves money because the 34-inch The monitor will not be obsolete in 3 years).
A few students who need macOS bought a 5,000-yuan Mac mini, which has the same performance as the 15,000-yuan Macbook Pro.
Some classmates are not proficient in blind typing, so I purchase a "side-cut" or even "no-cut" keyboard, and perform the "typing game" assessment during the trial period, and the effect is very good.

There is a theory in economics-"Unclear property rights, leading to low efficiency":

If the company provides notebooks, working hours are used for company business, and often take the computer home after get off work to do personal projects, study or play games, at this time the output belongs to the company or the individual?
If the company provides desktop computers, programmers often buy a computer to put it at home, and use it at home after leaving it idle during the day. Two computers are replaced every three years, which is not economical and environmentally friendly.
So this solution has a win-win situation:

The property rights are clear, the computers belong to the employees, and they are cherished when they are used, and the old computers will not appear in the company;
Buy the computer by yourself, and qualified programmers know the computer well and will never freeze;
After 3 years of reimbursement, the reimbursement can only be continued with a new computer, and no one will use the old computer;
The company reduced one-time expenditures and also reduced the labor cost of maintaining the depreciation of computer assets;
Overseas network
There is a paragraph saying that many programmers are now "programming for Google", which also shows that "checking information" is very important for programmers. Of course, there is also GitHub. In 2013, Mr. Kaifu Li once screamed:

Large companies such as Tencent have expensive overseas dedicated lines, but the majority of small and medium-sized companies are difficult to obtain or cannot afford. Other methods can be used, such as:

1. Delete 100 words here

2. Go to Hainan

In July 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port "Dedicated Internet Data Channel", covering 9 industrial parks in the province.

Programmers who like "surfing at sea" are welcome to come to Hainan to start a business and settle down, and the winter is not cold and the air is excellent.

Summarize

If a company’s chair is simple and the display is small, it will be discovered during the interview, indicating that the company does not understand the "engineering culture", even if it offers industry-level salaries, excellent programmers will not come.

When you start your own business or serve as managers, you should pay attention to knowing what programmers like in order to increase the attractiveness of the company's recruitment and retain talents.

Note: Secret-related entities such as finance are not allowed to bring their own computers. It is recommended to purchase desktop computers (reviewed by programmers), which have higher performance than notebooks at the same price, instead of using the "cloud desktop" of Typing Duka.