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GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

forbes.com

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Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#141

Post by meowface »

dragonwriter wrote: post #130
Nerevarine76 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In reality it has nothing to do with fairness, it's a result of real market conditions. An employee in the middle of the country will accept a lower salary than someone in the bay area due to cost-of-living expenses. Same can be said for someone in another country. Is it 'fair' from a pure salary-to-value ratio? No. But economics isn't about 1-1 'fairness', it's about the allocation of scarce resources at a mutually-…

> In reality it has nothing to do with fairness Well, yes, when I argued against the idea it was fair without also arguing against the clear fact that it occurs, I was rather clearly saying that the fact that it occurs has nothing to do with fairness. > it's a result of real market conditions Yes, specifically, the absence of robust competition for remote labor of the precise kinds Gitlab is buying is the “real marke…

Starting a remote company is a cost-saving tactic, and the ability to often not have to pay SF salaries can be a motivating factor, especially in the early stages of the company.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#142

Post by meowface »

caymanjim wrote: post #93
trilila wrote: post #19

Would be interesting to know if they discriminate pay, according to where the person works from. Edit: Further down the page I saw: "Why they pay based on where team members live". That's petty.

This has always bothered me about GitLab and has prevented me from applying for a job there. I want to work remotely so I can move around a lot, both for long-term travel and to check out different places to live. I don't have a home. If I'm hired from NYC and then I move to rural Montana, that's none of their business. So long as I have reliable Internet wherever I am, and can work the hours I need (I'm happy to adj…

They pay you according to how much they think you'll keep. If your rent is $3500/month, you'll take home less than if it's $600/month.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#143

Post by danols »

nakodari wrote: post #5

The first half of the article doesn't even name the business. The name of the business, GitLab, is hidden in the second half of the article. This is an example of a publication optimizing blindly for Google Search Optimization where they want to improve "Time on site" and other data by keeping the readers on the page as long as possible. It's frustrating. Google's algorithm needs to be updated to make it smarter othe…

I don't click Forbes links anymore. The garbage to quality ratio is just too high and not worth the gamble.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#144

Post by descentintomael »

sytse wrote: post #61
ThePadawan wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI Gitlab quite readily publicize their salary calculator at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/global-c... .

Thanks for posting our calculator. More context about us paying local rates is in https://about.gitlab.com/2019/02/28/why-we-pay-local-rates/

Thank you for publishing this! I work for a small fintech company and I find it really hard to get good data on what salaries should be outside of one-off anecdotes. I also agree that you should pay local rates. I looked at the non-SF California rate and found it to be more than reasonable.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#145

Post by [deleted] »

sytse wrote: post #104
BeetleB wrote: post #99

>After starting and selling app store Appappeal, Sid turned open-source software GitLab into a fast-growing venture that is on its way to an IPO in 2020. Open source software?

I try to say open core software (some of it is proprietary) and that is what we try to use in our website and blog posts. Sometimes I mess up and sometimes the journalist prefers a more common term.

[deleted]

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#146

Post by meowface »

xiphias2 wrote: post #26
langitbiru wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automattic is the name of the company. WordPress is the name of the product. Anyway, what I like about GitLab and Automattic is they are agnostic-timezone remote company. You can live in any timezone to work in GitLab or Automattic. Some remote companies only accept certain timezones.

What's most interesting to me is remote + scale. There are many small remote companies that don't try to scale, as they prioritise just having a nice product that solves 1 relatively simple task very well, while having a comfortable life style for the employees. But so far there's no remote-first company on the stock market.

It's only recently become possible to run a remote-first company in an effective and cheap way. Give it time.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#147

Post by meowface »

malvosenior wrote: post #118
mynegation wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing petty about it. Everyone does it, but GitLab is just more transparent about it. It is up to you whether you accept the compensation level or not, GitLab is far from a monopoly on labour demand

Everyone does not do this. I work remote and get a fair market rate (for the value I add, not based on where I live). Unfortunately I couldn't apply to Gitlab last time I was in the market for work because their salaries are both lower in general and lowered even further due to geo adjustment. I'm fully a fan and believer of remote work, but you need to pay your employees just like any other top tier company would. I…

Out of curiosity, how long has your company been in existence for? This seems like something a more established company could do more easily.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#148

Post by tobib »

systemtest wrote: post #24
nakodari wrote: post #5

The first half of the article doesn't even name the business. The name of the business, GitLab, is hidden in the second half of the article. This is an example of a publication optimizing blindly for Google Search Optimization where they want to improve "Time on site" and other data by keeping the readers on the page as long as possible. It's frustrating. Google's algorithm needs to be updated to make it smarter othe…

I noticed this when you google "name-of-movie post credit scene". Not a single result will instantly tell you if this movie has a scene after the credits. It will have a multiple paragraph review of the movie and your answer is hidden somewhere in there. All I want is a simple yes or no answer.

This reminds me of people telling their whole life story and how that rice pudding made them a better person when all I was looking for was the recipe.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#149

Post by ThePadawan »

trilila wrote: post #128
lordfoom wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Checked it out, and for my region their salary is barely competitive. Must say, I am disappointed by this approach from a company whose product I admire.

Curious, which region is it?

I second the curiosity.

As a second data point, last time I checked (I want to say >18 months ago), compensation for my area (Switzerland, urban) was also very low (around the 20th percentile).

Now, it is closer to the median.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#150

Post by 0xfeba »

IshKebab wrote: post #101
sytse wrote: post #68

GitLab the company exists because of HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4428278 Ask me anything.

Have you ever had to deal with employees that "work remotely" but don't get a lot done (perhaps because they're spending all day on HN)? How do you detect that & deal with it?

How do you detect when someone doesn't get a lot done that doesn't work remotely?
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