Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#251

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:29 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #242

epicureanideal wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean a SAAS that solves a boring problem for other businesses with money to spend. Profitable software-based ideas are increasingly difficult to find. Thousands of people are exploring every niche and trying to start startups in them, which is great, but competition is fierce and unexplored niches are shrinking. And of course, it's still not straightforward even if you find a relatively unexplored niche. Most peo…

People say this but I don’t buy it at all. If anything, it feels like the vast majority of the business world is still operating on some combination of Excel and a software program that was outdated a decade ago. The main issue is that their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

Just check out the number of posts you see on HN where you have people that started "successful" small (In basically all instances:

1. These stories get a ton of upvotes because they're actually quite rare.

2. The total income to the founder is still considerably (like way considerably) less that a senior dev at a FAANG.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#252

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:29 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #241

Rinzler89 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> instead of learning how to start and run a business Because the stress and risks of running a small business as a solo inexperienced first time business owner are insane compared to a regular 9-5. Especially if you start hiring other people, your liability then increases 10 fold as now anything can happen with them (sick leave, absenteism, low performance, sabotage, etc) but you're still bound to the same deadlines…

I get that, but if you’re trying to get a job at one of the best paying companies in the world, is the stress level actually that different? And there are plenty of examples (search on HN for them) of people running one person internet businesses and making a healthy living.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#253

Post by epicureanideal » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:29 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #242

epicureanideal wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean a SAAS that solves a boring problem for other businesses with money to spend. Profitable software-based ideas are increasingly difficult to find. Thousands of people are exploring every niche and trying to start startups in them, which is great, but competition is fierce and unexplored niches are shrinking. And of course, it's still not straightforward even if you find a relatively unexplored niche. Most peo…

People say this but I don’t buy it at all. If anything, it feels like the vast majority of the business world is still operating on some combination of Excel and a software program that was outdated a decade ago. The main issue is that their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

> The main issue is that their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

I think there are probably several hundred HN readers who would be happy to tackle those problems. Boring is probably not the issue, but obscure is, assuming these problems exist. If they're difficult to discover that the problem exists, that's a challenge. Further, if the problems exist but are highly unique in each case, there may be a reason it's solved in a one-off way by Excel or scripts rather than a scalable product. The use of Excel isn't inherently ripe for disruption. There are plenty of problems to be solved that just can't be solved profitably. It would be no better than solving a problem that someone has but is unwilling to pay for.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#254

Post by anomaloustho » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:30 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

Started a business doing 1M annual recurring. I have plenty of reasons why it’s more advantageous.

• When times get tough, cofounders playing chicken to see who can take the lowest salary

• Giving yourself the lowest pay to prevent income loss of your employees

• Always having to hunt for sales to maintain your survival (which is typically nebulous and subject to when they feel like signing)

• HR and always trying to figure out how to not get sued

• Losing big customers or big customers going out of business

For any one of those bullet points there’s a coulda woulda shoulda, but again, just taking your 400k from a well established company that isn’t fighting for its survival every day is not inherently inferior to the heroics and cortisol required to operate a business.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#255

Post by Scarblac » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:30 PM UTC

reaperman wrote: post #233

brodouevencode wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~Calm down. It's a common misconception.~

Apparently this belief is far more common than I thought. I expected it to be closer to the percentage of Americans who think the Earth is flat (10%)[0]. Evidently 50% of Americans[1] believe you pay your highest marginal rate on all of your income. I'm blown away, and genuinely humbled. I don't understand how someone can get a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac home loan, raise children, have a long and successful career and no…

There is a class of rich people in the US who really like that people believe this. It allows them to spread a lot of fear about higher tax rates for high incomes.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#256

Post by mattmaroon » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:30 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

As someone who has been self-employed for over 20 years, done the startup thing (including going through YC in the very early days), I totally understand why people would not want to.

There are real downsides to owning your own business. It’s probably been 15 years since I had a day where I didn’t check my email.

Most people are Indians, not chiefs, and I think that’s actually an evolutionary adaptation that’s built into us. Someone may want to be the best programmer they can be rather than the best at managing employees, setting business strategy, dealing with taxes and other paperwork, etc.

Totally get it.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#257

Post by keiferski » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:31 PM UTC

Rinzler89 wrote: post #249

keiferski wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that, but if you’re trying to get a job at one of the best paying companies in the world, is the stress level actually that different? And there are plenty of examples (search on HN for them) of people running one person internet businesses and making a healthy living.

> is the stress level actually that different? Your liability is. Worst case scenario is you don't get hired, or you get hired, and then get fired. That the worst that can happen. FAANG isn't gonna come after you for damages if you accidentally brick something in production or are just lazy and incompetent. As a business, your customers might. Let's watch how the Crowdstrike scenario unfolds in the coming months, whe…

Crowdstrike is essentially on the level of a FAANG, so I don't think this is remotely comparable to the type of business I mentioned.

The likelihood of a one-person SAAS getting sued into oblivion is pretty low, especially if you aren't providing something as fundamental as security services to banks and airlines.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#258

Post by keiferski » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:32 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #251

keiferski wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People say this but I don’t buy it at all. If anything, it feels like the vast majority of the business world is still operating on some combination of Excel and a software program that was outdated a decade ago. The main issue is that their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

Just check out the number of posts you see on HN where you have people that started "successful" small ( In basically all instances: 1. These stories get a ton of upvotes because they're actually quite rare. 2. The total income to the founder is still considerably (like way considerably) less that a senior dev at a FAANG.

Big sample size issue here. I don't know why anyone would want to share that they have a profitable one person business, as it only invites competition. The people actually doing that are almost certainly going to keep it a secret.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#259

Post by epicureanideal » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:33 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #242

epicureanideal wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean a SAAS that solves a boring problem for other businesses with money to spend. Profitable software-based ideas are increasingly difficult to find. Thousands of people are exploring every niche and trying to start startups in them, which is great, but competition is fierce and unexplored niches are shrinking. And of course, it's still not straightforward even if you find a relatively unexplored niche. Most peo…

People say this but I don’t buy it at all. If anything, it feels like the vast majority of the business world is still operating on some combination of Excel and a software program that was outdated a decade ago. The main issue is that their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

If you know of some boring, obscure market niches that are also likely to be profitable, meaning the cost of customer acquisition is easily less than the profit per customer, and is scalably solved with a software product, please either share with HN readers, or at least offer to sell them to us.

They say ideas are worth nothing, but not to me. If you really have some good ideas (see definition above), I would be interested in buying them at a reasonable price.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#260

Post by meiraleal » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 3:34 PM UTC

amonith wrote: post #213

gamepsys wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be equally embarrassed if either of those were on my resume. I'd have similar levels of embarrassment with alcohol, firearms, cannabis or politics. You don't want your resume to suggest you are controversial in anyway. Maybe 80% of the people you run across will be cool with it, but it only takes one person in a company to veto your resume and there are usually 3+ people that look at a resume with veto power.…

Interesting topic because I wouldn't want to work with those 20% who reject people based on n-th level relationship to anything controversial. I get not wanting to deal with people who run these things but employees? Those "anti-political" places typically mean a specific side (depending on your country that may anti-right in western countries and anti-left in eastern). When I worked in the office before 2019 we had…

You asked why that would be a problem, not that we agree. I like your point of view but I think in general society is less diverse than our personal experience. At least in my country, which is a mix of very liberal and very conservative (Brazil), most recruiters would discriminate against gambling and porn, not by the other tech people but from the other areas of the company. Less likely to happen in a full tech company.