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Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#41

Post by brianwawok »

nzmsv wrote: post #33
brianwawok wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won’t get those kind of jobs without a green card though. H1Bs are paid near slave labor wages in general.

This is only true for sweatshop-type companies. For places you'd actually want to work there is no difference in comp based on the type of visa someone is on. It's more about, we want to hire this engineer, what legal checkboxes do we need to tick to get them here. Sweatshops do take up the bulk of the H1B quota though, which is what gives this impression.

I mean, that's nice in theory.. but I don't think the data backs this up

https://insights.dice.com/2021/05/07/how-much-do-software-de...

Are there a few high paid H1Bs? Sure.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#42

Post by hash872 »

brianwawok wrote: post #25
xupybd wrote: post #19

180k USD as a grad? Seriously what am I doing with my life. I need to get to the US and start earning real money.

You won’t get those kind of jobs without a green card though. H1Bs are paid near slave labor wages in general.

This is utterly untrue, tons & tons of H1Bs are making over $100k, and I personally know one making $180k (to the OP's example). Also contrary to popular belief it's not that difficult to switch jobs as an H1B, so if one was underpaid they can find a market salary elsewhere. I do agree that the bodyshops don't pay much

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#43

Post by hash872 »

brianwawok wrote: post #41
nzmsv wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only true for sweatshop-type companies. For places you'd actually want to work there is no difference in comp based on the type of visa someone is on. It's more about, we want to hire this engineer, what legal checkboxes do we need to tick to get them here. Sweatshops do take up the bulk of the H1B quota though, which is what gives this impression.

I mean, that's nice in theory.. but I don't think the data backs this up https://insights.dice.com/2021/05/07/how-much-do-software-de... Are there a few high paid H1Bs? Sure.

Here's an alternate piece by the same author with some fairly different numbers? https://insights.dice.com/2021/02/12/20-highest-paying-h-1b-...

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#44

Post by nzmsv »

brianwawok wrote: post #41
nzmsv wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only true for sweatshop-type companies. For places you'd actually want to work there is no difference in comp based on the type of visa someone is on. It's more about, we want to hire this engineer, what legal checkboxes do we need to tick to get them here. Sweatshops do take up the bulk of the H1B quota though, which is what gives this impression.

I mean, that's nice in theory.. but I don't think the data backs this up https://insights.dice.com/2021/05/07/how-much-do-software-de... Are there a few high paid H1Bs? Sure.

This is exactly what I am talking about though. Most H1Bs work at sweatshops like Tata and this skews the statistics. For any place one would actually want to work at H1Bs are paid the same as any other engineer.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#45

Post by listless »

___luigi wrote: post #27
listless wrote: post #17

I just evaluated a candidate and flagged it as “no” because they had too many position changes in the last 5 years. Switching jobs is fine, but if you overdo it, you risk looking like a bad investment.

> flagged it as “no” because they had too many position changes This is wrong and misleading in many ways, you should ask people why they left, you should give a chance to those who have good skillset, not based on number of jobs they had. I know a lot of people who worked on contracts, so they had to change employers frequently, and I know a lot of people who were looking for a place, as juniors, to learn from good…

I should clarify that this is not the only reason. It’s one of several. And yes, we did discuss the reasons and it was always something more interesting.

But as best I could tell, if we did hire them, we had 12 months tops. Remember, I only have the past record to go on and hiring is the most important and hardest decision to make.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#46

Post by giantg2 »

gwe3232t wrote: post #38
giantg2 wrote: post #4

I think location plays a role in the decision. If you live in SV, then maybe it would be worth switching in a few years. If you're just about anywhere else, I would say that $250k is great and not to look anywhere else. Either way, $180k straight out of college is awesome. Just my opinion as a dev making under $100k.

We, poor Europeans, can only dream about such salaries. Communism has won and now there is little motivation to do anything at all. Your tiny salary == social payments without doing any work.

There are areas of Europe that have good salaries. I think Switzerland is one. It's also hard to compare salaries due to how taxes and benefits work.

For example (hypothetical), you could be spending few thousand per month to give your family healthcare in the US. This could take the median US dev salary from about $105k down to about $75-85k, or even lower depending on a bunch of factors. Then we would have to compare cost of living in both countries, including if healthcare is covered in an indirect manner in the other country.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#47

Post by admissionsguy »

giantg2 wrote: post #46
gwe3232t wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We, poor Europeans, can only dream about such salaries. Communism has won and now there is little motivation to do anything at all. Your tiny salary == social payments without doing any work.

There are areas of Europe that have good salaries. I think Switzerland is one. It's also hard to compare salaries due to how taxes and benefits work. For example (hypothetical), you could be spending few thousand per month to give your family healthcare in the US. This could take the median US dev salary from about $105k down to about $75-85k, or even lower depending on a bunch of factors. Then we would have to compa…

Cost of living tends to be lower in most of the US relative to Western Europe. Not to mention VAT.

There is some truth in what you are saying. Possibly contracting in the EU is more similar to employment in the US (compared to employment in the EU where you don’t need need to constantly produce value).

But even taking all that into account, the US is just wealthier than even the „rich” EU countries.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#48

Post by mooreds »

marbletimes wrote: post #29
theshadowknows wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work with this guy who’s sort of an “automation” guy. He’s responsible for automating or at least partially automatic really complex processes. I’ve seen the guy automate away whole departments. Generally speaking my point is that he delivers huge value for the company. And a few months ago his supervisor emailed me asking if I could send in recommendation for him as he was up for a promotion, so I created quite a…

"My theory is that he’s too valuable where he is, and that they don’t want to move him elsewhere." Assuming the "they are too valuable here to be promoted elsewhere" hypothesis is true, and it may be true in some cases (and not true in the majority of cases), there is always an increase in compensation in the form of increased base salary, bonus, or equity, depending on the company, available. A promotion is both a r…

And why does he have to move elsewhere if he is promoted? Can't he remain where he is, with a new title and more money?

Even if he has to move to a different section of the company if promoted, I'm sure there a plan can be put in place to hire and train a replacement.

We're all speculating in the dark here, but from what has been written, it certainly seems that this person has given the company a lot and deserves to be compensated.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#49

Post by pnutjam »

ashtonkem wrote: post #8

All else being equal, more money is better. But all else isn’t equal. Generally changing jobs repeatedly will bring you advancement and pay faster, as it allows you to shop around for a company that’s willing to take a chance on you, but there are some trade offs that come with that You need to evaluate your quality of life outside just the monetary and career aspect, and decide if the stress of job changing and pote…

I've hopped, but it's mostly been driven by mergers and such. When the company ceases to be the company that hired me, I move on. This has still resulted in changing jobs every 3 years or so.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth it to switch companies every few year?

#50

Post by ashtonkem »

pnutjam wrote: post #49
ashtonkem wrote: post #8

All else being equal, more money is better. But all else isn’t equal. Generally changing jobs repeatedly will bring you advancement and pay faster, as it allows you to shop around for a company that’s willing to take a chance on you, but there are some trade offs that come with that You need to evaluate your quality of life outside just the monetary and career aspect, and decide if the stress of job changing and pote…

I've hopped, but it's mostly been driven by mergers and such. When the company ceases to be the company that hired me, I move on. This has still resulted in changing jobs every 3 years or so.

Yeah, that’s a good reason to job hop. Mergers are no fun.
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