Great to see you picked it up Chris.

“But he will also make clear that they do have a well thought-out plan for themselves, one that requires that every job they take build up their skill sets, so they become more valuable employees for someone else–if and when you do not fulfill your end of the bargain, or drag your feet in doing so.”
(Could not agree with this more! After years of bosses being spread too thin to be concerned with my career development, I had to take control of my own career. I am learning so much at my job and using all of the available resources to advance my skill set but unfortunately, I'm more likely to take those skills to a company that values them)

Thanks for the book recommendation. It provided some much needed inspiration for a blog posting :)

Even so, after this review I may get it at the library.

Working in the industry I am in (real estate), it's also easy to be pigeonholed as another flighty 20-something. I have found that embracing my youth and using my energy and tech knowledge has actually gotten me pretty darn far.

I firmly believe and expressed that respect is mutual, I have spent most of my career watching bad managers fail to respect or value the people who make them successful, thus eventually failing. Several generations worth at this point.

Challenging the status quo is not a good thing in and of itself. Questioning, understanding the options and adding value creates better results and empowers others to accept change and share in the success, or failure. I will tell you my youngest managers can be the most intractable when challenged openly, it is not age it is human response.

Bonus plans should reward work above and beyond the job that the salary pays for, I agree that many plans don't reward value.

Loyalty is a human response to understanding the actions of those who either have invested their time and energy in your success, or haven't. Youth often doesn't recognize that success wasn't an individual activity.

My generation is better educated than the last, and, if you believe the stats, possibly better educated than the next. :) (I don't believe that). The value of shared experience, personal and professional loyalty, clear expectations of a fair pay for a fair days work and the challenges of management in general are learned experiences. The world constantly changes. Each generation changes the world, thank goodness, but it changes with the willingness and support of the previous generations, not in spite of them. The future is shaped by everyone, the young just get to see more of it.

And, oh yeah, those kids won't be better programmers than you, but they will be convinced they are.

I find it rare that managers actually respect my drive or ambition. Most managers expect respect from day one, but don't return the respect until I've proven myself. If you respect me, I will respect you. If I have to prove myself as an employee, you have to prove yourself as a manager.

Yes I challenge status quo, because in many ways the status quo is changing. Agreesively challenging the status quo has led to results. I find that in many cases, older employees defend the status quo without understanding it. Change is good right?

I agree with the bonus based compensation, but then again almost every company I've seen offer bonuses bases it on salary, not actual work. When I put 100 hours into a project and get a smaller bonus than a senior dev who put 10 hours in, I'll be pissed.

100% agree about loyalty. I have no loyalty to a company that hasn't earned it. Give me a paycheck and I'll do my job, but a paycheck alone does not earn loyalty. When my boss throws a fit about the dev team expensing a $100 lunch once a month, that tells me I'm just a paycheck. Most companies that complain about loyalty treat their employees like line-items on a budget, not people.

Finally, I disagree that none of this applies over time. My ambitions and aspirations are shaped largely by what my parents wanted. The workplace has changed drastically over the past few decades and a larger percentage of young people are starting their own companies. My generation is better educated and more tech savvy than the last, and my children will be better still.

My parents busted their ass to make sure I have a better life than they did and I will bust mine to make sure my son's is better than mine. I want him to challenge the status quo. I want him to be more skillful than I am. The future is shaped by the young, that is unlikely to change.

In closing, I will probably bitch about these same issue when younger, better programmers come along. Damn kids and their Ruby on Rails.

The more people talk about their Gen Y children as if they are unguided cattle, the more they will push them away (it's frustrating that older generations still haven't learned this from their sons and daughters!)

One of the many reasons GenY is perceived by their elders as unmotivated and incapable of “thinking strategically” is because the tools and gadgets they've been allowed to surround themselves with do the motivating and strategic thinking for them. GenY is simply on a whole different platform of motivation and strategic thinking. They understand that media trends are changing, and they are forming new models to usher in this change. It's a matter of incentive. Why waste the time and energy on inserting oneself into a system that's dying, when a more efficient system, what Gen Y has grown up with, would prove more effective?

If anything, from GenY's perspective, it's the older generations that seem unmotivated or unwilling to adapt. Chris, any good books for corralling all the adults out there?