Slashdot Mirror
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.
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
...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.
We have just recently learned that accounting pays so much better than IT: https://ask.slashdot.org/story...
So, how big are accountant salaries in Silicon Valley?
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.
Is that that average salary includes data scientists, AI researchers, etc. which command higher salaries than typical software engineers. I would be very surprised to find that the median salary of a SWE at Facebook is $240k unless they bring a very impressive resume with them. The SWEs who just build out new user-facing features with Hack and React are likely not anywhere near that.
No, the blue-collar workers live in their cars, tents, and RVs, live several workers to a small apartment, or they live 2 hours away and drive in in carpools. Most are paid to well to collect many means-tested programs (section 8 housing, welfare, SNAP, Aid for Women with dependent children, etc.).
Ken
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
And that's the flip side of it: The so-called "Golden Handcuffs". We have it, to a lesser extent, in Metro DC as well. The pay is significantly higher, and you adjust your lifestyle to it. And then. . . .companies outside "the bubble" cannot offer that level, even if the cost of living is low enough that it's a defacto lifestyle IMPROVEMENT. . .
that has made the USA the most successful company in the history of the planet.
Captain Obvious strikes again!
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
There are a lot of homeless there. They would at least be as well off bring homeless elsewhere - at least their prospects would improve.
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!
isn't always gold as the saying goes.
Those salaries look pretty decent, until you factor in the cost of living out there. I get a good laugh from folks who are paying $1M+ for homes and need four room-mates just to make it work. I would love to see someone track / post their expenses for a few months just to compare how outrageous things really are.
I would post mine, but don't want all the California types moving here as they tend to bring all the silly ideas that caused them to move away in the first place along with them. :D
I'm pretty sure, that's Japan, actually...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
> 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.
Typo alert. Amazon's median salary is probably $128,446, based on context .. and reality.
I made $28K CAD in 1983, living in Toronto. I don't imagine American engineers made that little anywhere in the last thirty years.
At the top of the food chain were the big iron companies that made UNIX workstations and servers (Sun, SGI, HP, Dec, Digital, Apple, Fujitsu), chip makers (MIPS, Intel), high-speed networks (Cisco) and databases (Oracle). At the far end of the peninsula were Pixar and ILM. Microsoft crushed big iron UNIX with Windows NT. They got companies to abandon their own OS variants and use Windows NT instead.
If you look around the internet for "Silicon Valley wall posters", you'll find cartoon style maps of all the companies that used to be there:
https://www.siliconmaps.com/20...
http://archive.computerhistory...
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Amazon's salaries are notoriously low because the majority of their compensation is in the form of stock. So you could get 2/3rds of your "total comp value" in the form of stock instead of a cash bonus/salary like in other companies.
You probably can't. The issue is finding talent that can do the job that is required. It's not that there aren't competent engineers in other states, it's just that engineers that are competent at the specific needs of something like Facebook are very, very hard to find.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
You probably can't. The issue is finding talent that can do the job that is required. It's not that there aren't competent engineers in other states, it's just that engineers that are competent at the specific needs of something like Facebook are very, very hard to find.
Honestly curious, what are the specific needs of Facebook beyond being able to develop web apps? I know a lot of data gathering and correlation is also involved, but I've learned about the same level of those skills in college as what college taught me for my current jobs. I only got to the level where I am by learning on the job, not sure how Facebook would be much different from that since I don't think there is any college that specifically teaches courses targeted at Facebook, in California or otherwise.
You do realize that statistically, literally no one does that stuff right? .001 == 0
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Why do that though? If you hire remote, why pay soneone in rural America a fair wage (or even an inflated wage) when you can pay someone in India less than minimum wage?
I had a few good years reworking the crap that came back from a company in India. The US company that out sourced would have spent less by keeping it in country in the first place.
Nice maps. Where is Hooli on there? ;-)
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Microsoft crushed big iron UNIX with Windows NT. They got companies to abandon their own OS variants and use Windows NT instead.
Actually that was Linux. People running *nix tended to stay with *nix. Microsoft's OS was brand named "workstation" but it was not displacing traditional *nix workstations. *nix never really made it to the desktop of average workers, *nix users tended to be high end and specialized and remained so. DOS, OS/2 and Windows 3.x were what Windows NT displaced on the desktop.
Servers were a similar story. traditional *nix servers were largely displaced by Linux or FreeBSD. Windows server users tended to be those new to servers. Microsoft captured a large chunk of new users, of the growth, but not much displacing of existing *nix. And *nix captured a large chunk of the new users / growth too.
But then you wouldn't have had a job. :(
Probably not, yay outsourcing for producing US jobs? I is confuse :)
But in Silicon Valley, War earns a salary, a fat one on top.
You mentioned "lawn mowers" twice. Which is to say clearly you don't actually live in a city which you speak as if you "know so much about".
Technically, it would be in Playa Vista down in Los Angeles
http://www.hdcco.com/hbos-fict...
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads