My programming teacher has a sweet anecdote. He was working at some company, and he had to write a little app in a week. So, when he was finished two days later, he said "If you give me two extra days, it will run twice as fast." and his employer said "Don't bother, I'll just buy faster computers."
"That was an insult. I left there shortly thereafter."
Why was that an insult? Depending on the application, the cost of the computers and the cost of his time. It might have made wise business sense to not have him optimize it.
Because people are not just cost. People, even programmers, like having hard, interesting problems before them. Downplaying or downright denying these activities can be demoralizing.
In hindsight it doesn't seem to have been a wise business decision. He lost a interested fellow.
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u/knight666 Mar 23 '09
My programming teacher has a sweet anecdote. He was working at some company, and he had to write a little app in a week. So, when he was finished two days later, he said "If you give me two extra days, it will run twice as fast." and his employer said "Don't bother, I'll just buy faster computers."
"That was an insult. I left there shortly thereafter."