91–100 of 163 posts
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Science gives us answers. Culture gives us meaning.
Meaning is what people seek once all the bills are paid.
I sometimes complain about being burnt out and needing a vacation after working for about 3 years, 9-5 max, 5 days a week that includes one day a week working from home.
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Thank you so, so much for pointing this out. I am so tired of basically everybody believing they are under-paid by making $120k+ It puts out the wrong expectations. Most people under-estimate, what kind of life they can live with $60-80k anyways.
It’s a very common HN trope: go to any thread where tech salaries are mentioned and you’ll find someone whose sister’s boyfriend’s roommate makes $400k at Facebook, so therefore that’s a normal, expected salary for all tech workers. Point out actual publicly available data like Glassdoor or Salary.com and you’ll get a whole bunch of nit picks about their methodology or the fact that they report base salary only, etc.…
So you don't have a counter argument is what you're saying? The truth is those site are insanely flawed and if that's what you're using to form your basis for negotiation then you're at a disadvantage period.
Compensation is often base + bonus + equity. For sufficiently senior positions, the equity component can be almost as much as the base salary. If the equity is liquid, then why is that not relevant?
FYI new grads at any of the big tech companies are bringing in close to ~$200k in total compensation their first year. It's not just someone's sister's cousin. It's a majority of engineering new grads who work at any of the BigCos which employ A LOT of people and are constantly hiring.
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Yes, it’s 4500 stock options worth $0 each. Pretty generous. Other startups of that size are lucky to get you 1500 stock options at $0 each.
It really doesnt matter whether the startup gives you 4500, 1500, or 45000, or a million. You are being given the numerator without knowing the denominator, so it is all worth zero until you get to see the Cap Table. Most startups wont let you see the Cap Table. Even if you saw the Cap Table, there is still a lot of uncertainty, tons of illiquidity, and a long horizon. Options are nice, but they are not cash and do n…
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It really doesnt matter whether the startup gives you 4500, 1500, or 45000, or a million. You are being given the numerator without knowing the denominator, so it is all worth zero until you get to see the Cap Table. Most startups wont let you see the Cap Table. Even if you saw the Cap Table, there is still a lot of uncertainty, tons of illiquidity, and a long horizon. Options are nice, but they are not cash and do n…
Certainly startup equity is a) a risk and b) sometimes hard to quantify in real dollar terms. But if the startup is successful, equity value is very real and should not be ignored or swept aside. My advice: Don't join a startup unless you believe in its growth potential and your compensation package includes equity. Without the equity and the potential that comes with it, there is little reason to join a startup. You…
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Money is not the only thing in the world, or even the most important. It’s a means to an end.
It's not. But the news is full of people who got degrees and giant college debt and it's a terrible anvil hanging over their entire lives. They can't buy a house or car (or its tremendously harder), the need to service the debt is a central part of their decision making. If you want to look at it in another lense, it hurts our whole economy because many younger people in this group aren't able to help our economy gro…
It will also be cancelled after 20 years of payments.
I would vastly prefer more direct subsidies though.
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How do you define "bullshit major"?
A major which the labor market doesn't need in the quantities that are being churned out by colleges, such as the classic "would you like fries with that" English major. It's not "bullshit" if you're independently wealthy and can pay to "study" for "fun", or as a second major to something that's in demand. But for everybody else I'd consider more in-demand professions, even though they're usually much harder. For an…
That being said, there are some crappy degrees out there. Some disciplines are mostly just watered down philosophy and I'd go for philosophy instead anytime.
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This is either a low effort bait post or exactly the kind of bullshit tech-worship I've come to despise. There's more to life and learning than STEM and whatever rides the current economic wave.
There's a lot more to life than technical/engineering fields. The pay is just complete crap. If you don't mind being broke and living on welfare, by all means, get that liberal arts degree.
IMO most talented/flexible degree per year studied is electrical engineering.
Best degree is no degree though. One Vitalek or Bram Cohen is worth 10000 Harvard computer science graduates.
The media's constant reporting on college debt and low paying majors has actually had a large impact on what the next generation is studying. https://qz.com/1370922/the-2008-financial-crisis-completely-... The humanities and social sciences have fallen off a cliff, heath care and STEM has soared. I'm skeptical that this is a good thing.
These things aren't binary (more humanities bad! more humanities good!), and it's a disservice to the topic to treat them as such.
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Thank you so, so much for pointing this out. I am so tired of basically everybody believing they are under-paid by making $120k+ It puts out the wrong expectations. Most people under-estimate, what kind of life they can live with $60-80k anyways.
Some people underestimate the options and freedom (including being ready for the effects of recession/ageism in the industry) that living on $60k with a $200k salary can provide.
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There's a lot of jobs outside of that bubble that pay well. I won't disclose my numbers, but I have no reasons to go elsewhere, I'm 42, I'm able to work with the languages and tools I want, and I live in Houston and work from home pretty much whenever I want.
Totally agree. I live in Portland and the attitude is much more relaxed, but I make well above the typical SV salary. I get to choose my technologies, work from home when I want, my company has no interest in anyone working more than 40 hours a week, etc. I'm sure I could make a bit more with the right job at the right company in SV, but the quality of life here is so good that I won't even consider it.