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by reactordev 217 days ago
Say this louder for the managers in the back!

I’m sick of having to pay for my own tools to do my job at your company. Either find a way to build using free tools or fork up the license for that Visual Studio Ultimate or IntelliJ Idea Ultimate license. Pay for your database vendor. Your corporate IdP. Why not $300/yr for a high value output employee?
2 comments
ebiester 217 days ago
We have a price for the total infrastructure spend per dev, and that includes things like AWS prices and all of the tooling like jira and github.

But you absolutely shouldn't have to pay for your own tools. (That said, blue collar people often have to, unlike us, and that's also awful.) But also, it's their productivity. If you are all laboring under the same constraints, it's their choice to make if they care about your productivity.

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waltbosz 217 days ago
You know, I always thought it odd when plumbers (etc. tradesmen) working full time for a company have to supply their own tools.
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reactordev 217 days ago
My brother is a plumber and his company reimbursed him for every tool he has bought for the job. After 5 years, he started his own plumbing business and he supplies all the tools, trucks, benefits, contracts, and customer support for his employees in the field. For what it’s worth.

You can choose your tool, you’ll get it.

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mschuster91 217 days ago
> You can choose your tool, you’ll get it.

That's actually decent. Too often you're stuck with whatever gear your shop uses - Bosch, Hilti, Makita are the most common power tools here in Germany. It makes sense for the penny pinchers who purchase on volume and get discounts, but chances are high it ends up pissing off the employees rather sooner than later.

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johnisgood 217 days ago
Yeah, sure, but in many places (for example in my country) they do not work for a company. They are not even legally working for themselves. You call them, they do the job, then ask for money. That's it. I think this is illegal though, but happens a lot when it comes to anything handyman-ish.
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hrimfaxi 217 days ago
I always found it odd that so many shops let people use whichever tools they want!
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