May napansin ako sa mga programmers/developers namin from Europe (specifically Portugal), and PH. More or less the same age group. Youngish, in their 20s and 30s.
PH techies: Our product is fine but I wish it had X. Oh well. We'll just make do, I guess. EUR techies: Our product doesnt have X. I guess we'll just have to build X.
The Portuguese guys want to improve the product and maybe include that achievement on their resume. Theyre thinking about the future. The PH guys just want to git paaaaiiiiid.
Yesterday I sat through a demo by the EU guys showing what they did. It was very impressive. Our PH guys have the same toolkit and, well... let's just say theyve done nothing with it. Is it cultural?
Could be. But they do have the means (their brains -- theyre pretty smart) and the tools (our proprietary toolkit + open source stuff you download off the net). It could be a matter of motivation.
Our guys expect job security while their guys dont expect it. Therefore, they do what that can to learn, use the office's resources, create a kick-ass resume for when they leave and negotiate a higher salary when they move on. They seem to be more enthusiastic too. They have all these toys and they want to use them.
EUR techies: Our product doesnt have X. I guess we'll just have to build X.