This is based on my limited personal experience observing the careers of people I know, whom I could consider somehow exceptionally good at their craft. I co-led the CTO team of software consultancy with 350+ devs. In that role it was pretty clear that it was really hard to compete on salary and how interesting projects experts could be offered.
Motivations differ based on what the person values. The top motivations I've experienced are:
- Money
- Following intrinsic motivation and being able to grow professionally
- Friendships and the feeling of belonging
- Stability and not taking any risks
The people in the last two categories tend to change jobs more slowly in my experience, but most still do it at some point.
I'm not aware of any reliable studies on the subject from the field of software engineering. If someone knows one, I would be more than interested in reading one.
Motivations differ based on what the person values. The top motivations I've experienced are:
- Money
- Following intrinsic motivation and being able to grow professionally
- Friendships and the feeling of belonging
- Stability and not taking any risks
The people in the last two categories tend to change jobs more slowly in my experience, but most still do it at some point.
I'm not aware of any reliable studies on the subject from the field of software engineering. If someone knows one, I would be more than interested in reading one.