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Farewell, App Academy. Hello, Airbnb – Part 2

haseebq.com

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

#21

Post by virmundi »

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.

America is full of fools on this point. We don't talk about salary because, in the back of our minds, it's a determiniate of our value. This is not true in most philosophical systems, but it's true in our post-modern materialism.

The end result of our self-censor is a weak labor market. We don't know what we're worth. Americans, aside from our verbrato, tend to underestimate our worth. There are people working for 80k with 8 years of experience in advanced fields like Big Data that don't realize that they bring their companies 200k+ worth of value. They don't realize that their peers with less skills and marketability are making the same 80k. This makes management's life better: thicker margins.

When an individual attempts to move past this barrier, especially consciously, anti-union sentiment pops up. People start to get defensive. Others get lustful. A reasonable dialogue turns into a battle of the Joneses. Labor fights Labor.

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

#23

Post by virmundi »

freyr wrote: post #14
GuiA wrote: post #4

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

Usually helps if you have another offer in hand.

Absolutely this. I worked hard for 5 years. I was a trusted member of my company. I spoke with IBM sales as a tech peer. I was dramatically underpaid. I asked for a raise, to which I was told the market couldn't bear me.

I was pushed into a project that had me crying to and from work. The stress was immense, but I thought I had little choice since my health insurance and house hold income provided everything for my family. I shopped around for a new job.

I found one that would work, but didn't have health coverage for 90 days. At this point I had an offer in hand. I told my management, at the time, unless I got another 20k a year, I'm walking to the other job. I got the raise.

Leverage is not bad. The company that you work for is probably only marginally committed to your well-being. They are totally committed to their margins. If you like your organization, but need more, leverage is your friend.

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

#25

Post by hkmurakami »

rawnlq wrote: post #11
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…

>They aren't options and you just get them whenever the company goes public. But they are completely illiquid before then.

Many companies now have a buyback mechanism where the employer will buy back your RSUs at a pre-determined price (often the price per share in the last priced round).

Although the vesting schedule is the same as if it were options, the contracts often have a clause where technically the RSUs have not vested, in order to avoid capital gains taxes on a (fairly) illiquid asset.

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

#26

Post by carboncopy »

Having failed multiple interviews with Google and other companies mentioned in this post, it really drives home the huge difference between Haseeb's work ethic and mine. If I had put forth 10% of the effort he has expended this year to preparing then I'd have aced the interviews. But I didn't. Instead I spend most of my free time doing frivolous things that aren't satisfying.

What percentage of HN posters have applied to Google? And how many received offers? I think it's amazing that he outclasses so many of us after being in our industry for a year. Good for him.

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

#27

Post by w1ntermute »

lpsz wrote: post #20

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.

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

That depends on your definition of "norm". The average person could probably spend their entire life preparing for a Google interview and never get an offer. Others could enter any field of their choosing and reach a very high level of competency in just a matter of months. Seems like the OP falls in the latter category.

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

#28

Post by fensipens »

w1ntermute wrote: post #15
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…

> close-minded and pessimistic attitude

I would call it healthy skepticism.

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

#29

Post by w1ntermute »

fensipens wrote: post #28
w1ntermute wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> close-minded and pessimistic attitude I would call it healthy skepticism.

Then you won't be getting a 250K offer from Airbnb with 1 year of experience any time soon.

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

#30

Post by lpsz »

w1ntermute wrote: post #27
lpsz wrote: post #20

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.

> With only a year of instruction and no coding background previously, he was able to get a position at Google? Is this the norm? That depends on your definition of "norm". The average person could probably spend their entire life preparing for a Google interview and never get an offer. Others could enter any field of their choosing and reach a very high level of competency in just a matter of months. Seems like the…

No matter how academically bright someone is, practical coding experience is still highly desirable.
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