Sure. Thanks for the color, but let me add some shape.
Perhaps you saw some confirmation of "ruthless meritocracy" in my post. You could not be more wrong. Most people in the organization I am describing would have been rejected as undistinguished weirdo losers from flyover towns. Our strength was that we supported each other.
I personally do not think that market discipline or financial incentives have much to do with producing excellence. At best, those systems can notice, after the fact, that something wonderful has occurred, and that it might be worth bringing to a larger group of people.
I still think we might be in violent agreement. The current sad state of our industry is IMHO mostly a result of the rejection of undistinguished weirdo losers from nowhere. I’m an undistinguished weirdo loser from nowhere, and I vividly remember the days when no one ran a background check on your politics or friends or habits at the weekend or aspy ticks or anything but “can this person code”.
I used the terms mutual respect and esprit des corps and you use the term supported one another: I think we’re talking about the same thing.
The prevailing wisdom, then as (ostensibly) now, was to judge people by their demonstrated achievements, your assessment of their ability, and what other hackers think in that order.
Today that’s a weird loyalty test (Carmack and Luckey will tell you all about it).
I agree with what I think you’re saying: good hackers are generally highly motivated by money until the point they get to work on cool things they believe in, and pretty bored/unmoved by it beyond that point: excellence is about pride in the craftsmanship and quality of our work.
Perhaps you saw some confirmation of "ruthless meritocracy" in my post. You could not be more wrong. Most people in the organization I am describing would have been rejected as undistinguished weirdo losers from flyover towns. Our strength was that we supported each other.
I personally do not think that market discipline or financial incentives have much to do with producing excellence. At best, those systems can notice, after the fact, that something wonderful has occurred, and that it might be worth bringing to a larger group of people.