Dark side of a Valley software engineer

Post by majewsky » Mon, Jul 04, 2016, 12:05 PM UTC

Grahf wrote: post #13

gambiting wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure it's just USA. I make a good salary in the North East of UK and I was told multiple times by people from US that I'm crazy to work for that kind of money(If you moved to US, you would easily make 3-4x as much!). And sure, maybe it's true. But I enjoy working 37.5h/week, having 25 paid holiday days a year, unlimited paid sick leave and having a job that I actually like doing - plus I don't really have…

Indeed. Your salary is relative. If you're earning 3-4x more but have to pay 3-4x more on all your expenses, are you really richer? Factor in long hours in general, unpaid overtime, crunch times, a poor work/life ratio in general, etc. It seems like the scales are balanced all wrong. That's my perception as another tech worker living in the UK. I'd love to hear an argument as to why that isn't the case.

Post by contingencies » Mon, Jul 04, 2016, 12:09 PM UTC

db48x wrote: post #19

contingencies wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hehe, perhaps not only theory. I did loads of overtime in London, got a 50% pay rise and allowed to build and manage a team, then sent to the USA with UK holidays but US taxes (lower), free housing and further payrise.

I think generalizing in either direction is a waste of time. Surely where you live won't have that much effect on whether you've decided to work overtime or not. Though I suppose it's more popular to start a business in some locations than in others.

Post by jsmith0295 » Mon, Jul 04, 2016, 12:14 PM UTC

Grahf wrote: post #13

gambiting wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure it's just USA. I make a good salary in the North East of UK and I was told multiple times by people from US that I'm crazy to work for that kind of money(If you moved to US, you would easily make 3-4x as much!). And sure, maybe it's true. But I enjoy working 37.5h/week, having 25 paid holiday days a year, unlimited paid sick leave and having a job that I actually like doing - plus I don't really have…

Indeed. Your salary is relative. If you're earning 3-4x more but have to pay 3-4x more on all your expenses, are you really richer? Factor in long hours in general, unpaid overtime, crunch times, a poor work/life ratio in general, etc. It seems like the scales are balanced all wrong. That's my perception as another tech worker living in the UK. I'd love to hear an argument as to why that isn't the case.

Post by commentereleven » Mon, Jul 04, 2016, 12:31 PM UTC

homero wrote: post #24

pakitan wrote: post #22

> A Google site-reliability engineer starts work at 9 a.m., leaves at 7 p.m., and works in the evenings until about 10 p.m. He's on constant alert because he must respond to urgent pages within 5 minutes. "Go home at 7pm with my backpack and fully charged laptop. If I get a page on the road I need to pull over and get on the system in 5 mins to start debugging. An email alert can wait until i get home. Can anyone ple…

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-normal-working-day-for-a-sof...

Post by pakitan » Mon, Jul 04, 2016, 12:37 PM UTC

commentereleven wrote: post #27

homero wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-normal-working-day-for-a-sof...

The important bit from that page is: "I am on-call about 10 days per quarter, usually 3 shifts of 3-4 days each. I am paid extra for my on-call (after-hours) work, but not at my full hourly salary because I only work when there are problems after hours (e.g. on weekends or late at night.)". Note that depending on the exact team, Software Engineers at Google may also be part of an on-call rotation.