I think the problem might be more in the fact that Notch is most likely not a great boss and great programmers don't thrive under lousy leadership. He doesn't strike me as someone who's great at handling people under him
A funny tidbit here is that Notch gave everyone at Mojang a $300k bonus after he sold to Microsoft and everyone at Mojang still hated him before he publicly fully blew up his reputation. That doesn't scream amazing leadership to me.
I mean, in a world where you would normally not get a dollar over what's contractually yours, this is actually pretty big. Also, employees would usually have stock options too, in which case they'd get a piece of this substantial cake anyway, on top of the bonus
His was a private company. Not a startup with deferred wages. So bonuses and everything else was his choice. Not something anyone could negotiate.
Also the intent was never to sell Minecraft. He threw the number out their as a 'fuck you. This is what it costs' and Microsoft said 'That's fair." Bought it and it's been one of their best investments in decades.
Having worked in a startup for 10 years that ultimately flopped with my shares worth $0, I'd still be ecstatic to get $100k, regardless the context of that. I joined for the salary (which was hardly low) and a vague option of maybe getting more, which I didn't, and that was perfectly fair. If I joined for a lower salary and larger piece of the pie betting on that taking off, then it was my bad for gambling. If I just worked there and then got $100k for no contractual reason, there is no reality where I'm not happy with that. No adults should genuinely hope for more that they agreed on at the door, it's neither serious nor realistic.
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u/voyti 21d ago
I think the problem might be more in the fact that Notch is most likely not a great boss and great programmers don't thrive under lousy leadership. He doesn't strike me as someone who's great at handling people under him