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Talent War in Silicon Valley Demands High Salary (axios.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Employees at Google's parent company Alphabet earned "a median pay package of more than $197,000" in 2017, around 18% lower than Facebook's median salary of $240,000, the Wall Street Journal reports. Per the Journal, this illustrates the competitive "talent war in Silicon Valley, where talented engineers are in limited supply." These two salaries were more than $100,000 above Amazon's median pay, which sat at $28,446. The median price for a home in Silicon Valley is upwards of $1 million, in Seattle the median home price is just under $800,000.

9 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Median Salary by Talderas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's nothing valuable or sane about comparing Amazon's median salary to that of Facebook or Alphabet. When either of the latter two start employing thousands of low wage workers you'll see their median salary plummet to Amazon levels.

    But hey, I guess we can't expect the Wall Street Journal to apply basic critical thinking skills.

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    1. Re:Median Salary by kenh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd be curious to see Amazon's median salary minus the warehouse workers. They compared two marketing/advertising giants with a retail enterprise, and we're supposed to feel bad that Amazon's tens of thousands of warehouse workers don't earn a quarter-million dollars/year like top-talent programmers and technology specialists?

      Puh-leeze.

      --
      Ken
    2. Re:Median Salary by omnichad · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is a huge leap in logic. Inflation is primarily driven by prices on commodities that poor people spend most of their income on. More income at the bottom means more demand for those commodities, driving up prices.

    3. Re:Median Salary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But, that's not at all true. WWII is what made America the most successful country in the history of the planet. Nearly all of the competitors were destroyed during the war as all their production capacity was targeted during fighting. The result was that we had a period of a couple decades where we had virtually no competition to ward off.

      But, that's also a period where the nation was far less capitalist than it is now. Employees were actually being paid for the work they were doing. They were able to save money to start their own ventures if they wanted to and there wasn't anywhere near as much predatory banking practice going on at the time.

      On top of that, since employees were actually being paid, there was money for people to go out and buy goods and services.

      Funny how people choose to just ignore those facts when astroturfing.

  2. Might be time to leave... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...the sillycon valley. It's always going to be the center of tech, but there's a large hunk of america that costs a tiny fraction where anyone can live like a king on $100k/yr.

    It's a nice place, I spent the past week there, but I am glad to have left too. Paying 33% more in gas, 50% more in food, 30% more in groceries and the crowding and density didn't really endear it to me. To get an equivalent size house there to what I own would have cost almost 20x the price, and I know damn well I'm not going to get 20x the salary.

    I'm just not convinced that in the digital era that the silicon valley created that we all need to pile in there anymore. Video conferencing works well, email works well, networks work well. Let's spread out some.

    1. Re: Might be time to leave... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not really. Years ago I worked in the Midwest and weâ(TM)d laugh at the people coming from California demanding similar inflated salaries.

  3. Re:Outsource it all by Drethon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Outsource it all to Africa as even India’s too expensive now.

    Outsource it to pretty much any state east of California, it is still going to be cheaper than hiring someone local.

  4. Re:welfare state inflationary spuidity by Nidi62 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If we did not do the welfare madness one of two things would happen. The servant class would be forced to flea the city for green pastures, property values would collapse because obtaining a cup of coffee or getting your lawn mowed; the property otherwise maintained, you kids tutored would be impossible; or wages would rise, until those workers could afford to live.

    Where exactly are the "servant class" going to flee to, and how are they going to finance said move and secure housing and employment in said destination? They aren't going anywhere. The people that stayed aren't there because they love working menial jobs and subsisting on welfare living in government housing. The ones that can leave have already left. Cut off the welfare for those left behind and you'll just have more homeless, more hungry people. And that leads to more crime. What those making six-figure salaries would save in taxes, they will more than make up for in higher insurance costs, or paying for security as those "servants" start breaking into their $100k cars and $1 million homes.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  5. Re:Outsource it all by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Outsource it all to Africa as even India’s too expensive now.

    Outsource it to pretty much any state east of California, it is still going to be cheaper than hiring someone local.

    But, but, those people east of California might occasionally think unapproved thoughts!