Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2 • Hacker News Board

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#11

Post by rawnlq » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:19 AM UTC

kbob wrote: post #5

The author repeatedly mentions $XXX RSUs. It's been a while since I've worked for a pre-IPO company. Is it common for companies to give RSUs a dollar value instead of a number of shares and "heck if I know the valuation"? And how are RSUs different from straight ISOs?

Typically they also tell you the Fair Market Value of the shares and you just multiply by the number of shares offered. They aren't options and you just get them whenever the company goes public. But they are completely illiquid before then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_market_value

Quoting them in dollars is probably not too wrong if you believe the company's valuation won't change much (which is probably true for these unicorns). Even groupon's valuation didn't drop more than one order of magnitude.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#12

Post by fredophile » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:20 AM UTC

One thing that struck me as odd while reading this, and the preceding article, was that he seemed offended at being offered junior roles despite only having a year of experience. A talented junior developer is still a junior developer.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#13

Post by pjmlp » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:32 AM UTC

pfarnsworth wrote: post #6

I hope revealing salaries doesn't get him in trouble at AirBnb. I know I would be a bit annoyed if he revealed all of this before joining if I were an employer. Conflating base salary and RSU packages, especially pre-IPO RSUs, is a mistake. In my 20 years in Silicon Valley I've learned you simply can't put too much faith in stock. Stock is great, but it goes up and down. The only thing that is real is base salary, ev…

Are salaries trade secrets on US?

Here usually we talk openly about them.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#14

Post by freyr » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:47 AM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #4

... well, maybe I should ask for a raise.

Usually helps if you have another offer in hand.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#15

Post by w1ntermute » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:48 AM UTC

fredophile wrote: post #12

One thing that struck me as odd while reading this, and the preceding article, was that he seemed offended at being offered junior roles despite only having a year of experience. A talented junior developer is still a junior developer.

> A talented junior developer is still a junior developer.

Read his biography - the entire reason he has been able to achieve everything he has in life is because he doesn't have such a close-minded and pessimistic attitude. Rather than just letting the conventions of society dictate what he gets and does, he instinctively finds ways to work around them. While everyone else is busy checking the boxes expected of them, he's already moved on to the next level.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#16

Post by Will_Do » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:54 AM UTC

fredophile wrote: post #12

One thing that struck me as odd while reading this, and the preceding article, was that he seemed offended at being offered junior roles despite only having a year of experience. A talented junior developer is still a junior developer.

Yeah I also thought the ~115k bonuses he was getting was completely reasonable for someone who has been coding.

You and I were both wrong. He's evidently worth 2x that.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#17

Post by xiaoma » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:55 AM UTC

pfarnsworth wrote: post #6

I hope revealing salaries doesn't get him in trouble at AirBnb. I know I would be a bit annoyed if he revealed all of this before joining if I were an employer. Conflating base salary and RSU packages, especially pre-IPO RSUs, is a mistake. In my 20 years in Silicon Valley I've learned you simply can't put too much faith in stock. Stock is great, but it goes up and down. The only thing that is real is base salary, ev…

> "I hope revealing salaries doesn't get him in trouble at AirBnb. I know I would be a bit annoyed if he revealed all of this before joining if I were an employer."

I hope it doesn't get him in trouble, too. It would be both illegal and a gross ethical violation on Airbnb's part. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 gives all employees the right organize and "engage in concerted activities", including the right to discuss their terms and conditions of employment with each other.

Obama also signed an executive order last year reinforcing these rights. If you have a problem with employees sharing compensation information, you shouldn't be an employer in the US (or anywhere, really).

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/13/301989789/pay-secrecy-policies...

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#18

Post by mwfunk » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 5:59 AM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #13

pfarnsworth wrote: post #6

I hope revealing salaries doesn't get him in trouble at AirBnb. I know I would be a bit annoyed if he revealed all of this before joining if I were an employer. Conflating base salary and RSU packages, especially pre-IPO RSUs, is a mistake. In my 20 years in Silicon Valley I've learned you simply can't put too much faith in stock. Stock is great, but it goes up and down. The only thing that is real is base salary, ev…

Are salaries trade secrets on US? Here usually we talk openly about them.

"Here" is not very specific, so I'm not sure how to interpret that. :) I wouldn't say it's a trade secret, but for whatever reason, talking openly about salaries in the US does carry a stigma of unprofessionalism. I don't attribute that to any single cause- I think the attitude comes from a combination of good and bad influences. I don't know if it's a net positive or negative- I suspect it's a wash.

People also don't talk about salaries in social situations (IME). That's much more understandable, I think- it's just a lose-lose situation. If you make more than whoever you're talking to, it's awkward. If you make less than whoever you're talking to, it's awkward (for different reasons). It's usually not a topic that people would want to talk about outside of a professional context because either one person is going to feel bad, or the other person is going to feel like a jerk, or both. Or they're both sociopaths, in which case, whatever floats their boats.

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#19

Post by lowglow » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 6:17 AM UTC

If you've gone to a development school you should rate your experience here: https://schools.techendo.com/

Re: Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

#20

Post by lpsz » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 6:17 AM UTC

I may be misreading. With only a year of instruction and no coding background previously, he was able to get a position at Google? Is this the norm?

As a hiring manager, I would be concerned that a candidate with such short exposure to the field and no real projects under their belt would just be too green to carry their weight.