Developer happiness. Same reason my company doesn't make me fly economy when I travel. A cheap laptop says "drone on, you drones." A nice laptop says "we want you to be happy here."
I'm with you on point about laptop, because laptop is something that I use every day, but not on air travel.
Air travel is such a colossal waste of environment and time so to top it off with additional cost to the company for "developer experience" is so unnecessary. If a company wants me, a developer, to fly in in business class I'd immediately think that they prefer to concentrate on showing off instead of concentrating on things that really matter. Unless it's a fucking Ryanair (don't know what's US equivalent of shitty el cheapo airline), I'd be fine flying in economy. I'd rather the company spend the money on my salary or work environment instead of one time showoff so that I could sip champagne and put my feet up while flying for 4 hours.
> Air travel is such a colossal waste of environment and time
You're sure? For everyone across all fields? The simple fact is in many professional contexts, air travel is mandatory (including for many developers). I fly several times a year for work because the nature of my development job demands it.
> I'd rather the company spend the money on my salary or work environment
This is the point I was making. Since I have to travel, a relatively cheap business class upgrade (not first class) is the company spending money on my work environment.
Champagne? Sounds like you are describing first class and I was thinking the person you replied to was talking about business class. Typically, that's a seat closer to the front of the plane with a tiny bit more space.
