This post resonates with me. I got into software development when I was working as a tester and the developers didn't have time to fix the things I wanted fixing. I learned how to fix some things myself, mostly UI related issues.<p>I think it's important that teams have a mechanism for allowing developers time to work on what they most want to work on. When an issue you care personally about gets put on a backlog with a low priority, all that motivation you had for fixing it goes to waste. Who better to fix that issue that the person that feels passionate about fixing it, at the time when they feel most motivated to do so.