Developers' Tool Spending Reluctance

The cluster centers on debates about developers being unwilling to pay for software tools and productivity aids, despite their high salaries making such purchases a bargain compared to the time saved.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Career & Jobs
4,183
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#5961
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
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2008
52
2009
69
2010
88
2011
142
2012
197
2013
199
2014
159
2015
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2016
214
2017
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2018
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2021
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2022
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2023
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2026
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Keywords

CPU AI JS HN p.s MacBook AWS BlackBerry BTW PC developers software paying money pay hours cheap developer hardware worth

Sample Comments

aantix May 16, 2016 View on HN

Hardware is cheap. Developers are not.

mratsim Dec 19, 2023 View on HN

So you're saying programmers' time is not expensive enough?

koboll May 12, 2023 View on HN

Two dollars spent over and over would still take a while to equal a software engineer's salary, and if the end result is "produce a fully functional codebase in minutes" the premium might be worth it even if it exceeds that much.

DoesntMatter22 Jul 19, 2023 View on HN

To me this attitude is common among developers too. If there is a took that will save them 10 hours a week but costs 20 dollars they won't do it. Never met such an insanely cheap group of people.I am a developer BTW. I love paying for tools or hardware. I don't want to waste money but if something is going to make me faster or better I'm gonna do it.I once got laughed at by a bunch of my colleagues for paying 400 bucks for intellij. That's like 25 cents an hour for a ye

fastball Jan 29, 2025 View on HN

Software you like for the equivlaent of 0-2 hours of that dev's pay seems worth it.

j_baker Nov 13, 2010 View on HN

I agree with you, but considering how much you spend on developers in salary, benefits, and equipment, $55 is for all intents and purposes free.

jgalt212 Nov 26, 2016 View on HN

yes, and now computers are cheap and devs are expensive. The money has to flow somewhere.

tobyhinloopen Dec 1, 2021 View on HN

Most developers will rather spent 2 days to build something than pay $60 for something better.

lanna Nov 25, 2016 View on HN

really, is $70 for a productivity tool you use for most of the day, every day, "pretty steep"? many developers make that in a hour. i paid for it.

gigatexal Dec 4, 2018 View on HN

Quality software and developers cost money.