Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#231

Post by dktoao » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:38 PM UTC

khalilravanna wrote: post #209

jimbokun wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the sane architecture is the only relevant part. Real world "10x" developers are almost always in that class because they can solve the same problem with 1/10th the code of a 1x developer. Ability to solve problems with less code will always outpace faster typing.

To be clear, you don’t mean code golf levels of code-shortening, right? E.g. they’re also not sacrificing on clarity and readability of code to shorten it. They’re just removing unnecessary work. I think this is definitely good and creates a net gain for other devs. Because the people who shorten code at the cost of clarity are some of my least favorite people. I once saw “half = num >> 1” instead of, say, “half = fl…

In the good old days

half = num >> 1

Was standard practice and understandable by most engineers, as well as far and away much faster than a divide.

Now-a-days, using a compiled language they are going to be translated into the same machine code supporting your point. However, it might still be a good idea in a scripting language doing heavy math lifting.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#232

Post by colordrops » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #144

I interviewed at Netflix several years ago. It was a fairly standard SV interview. That is - whiteboard questions on basic data structures and algorithms (I'm 40 and I still absolutely suck at those). Failed of course :) But they put me up in a really nice hotel, so there's that. In the years since, I've definitely lost all interest in working in SV (the fact that I've failed every single interview I've had with SV c…

I'm 46 and I suck at this stuff too and have still been able to land some amazingly good jobs with SV companies. You can probably brush up on the basics you'll see in a typical interview with a few weeks of practice.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#233

Post by bird_monster » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #144

I interviewed at Netflix several years ago. It was a fairly standard SV interview. That is - whiteboard questions on basic data structures and algorithms (I'm 40 and I still absolutely suck at those). Failed of course :) But they put me up in a really nice hotel, so there's that. In the years since, I've definitely lost all interest in working in SV (the fact that I've failed every single interview I've had with SV c…

The first time I interviewed at Amazon, the interviewer either pretended that a fire alarm was going off, or was actually going off, so they had to cut the phone interview short. When I asked if they wanted to call me back, they said they didn't think so, and that I'd be hearing from the recruiter.

I did not ever hear from that recruiter again.

It was a pretty gutting way to interview with, at the time, the company of your dreams. Plus, being 20, the weight of that call was a lot greater than it probably should've been.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#234

Post by dastx » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

unoti wrote: post #163

jcadam wrote: post #144

I interviewed at Netflix several years ago. It was a fairly standard SV interview. That is - whiteboard questions on basic data structures and algorithms (I'm 40 and I still absolutely suck at those). Failed of course :) But they put me up in a really nice hotel, so there's that. In the years since, I've definitely lost all interest in working in SV (the fact that I've failed every single interview I've had with SV c…

> ...whiteboard questions on basic data structures and algorithms (I'm 40 and I still absolutely suck at those)... at my age it's time to accept that the window has closed on some things :) If you want to learn and are willing to put in the work you can do it. It will take some number of weeks or months, but it is totally doable with reading and practice. I read and practiced for a few months before getting my job at…

In my short career of ~10 years I've yet to use any of those the algorithms they ask about in these interviews. I've gone from full stack on php, to java backends,to devops engineering, and never have I ever had to use any of these algorithms. I got a decent score at university where we learned it, but it's ridiculous to be asked about something I'll never use. Even if I knew the theory, and was able to ace it, it would be rare for me to use it, because it's all available in libraries, and they definitely will have done a better job than I will do.

"It's not about the solution, it's about how you get to the solution" you say, I say there's better ways of figuring out if you have problem solving skills.

For sure, there are jobs that require such theory, but many do not. And if it's not required, managers need to realise they're potentially missing out on good talent.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#235

Post by s1artibartfast » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:43 PM UTC

C1sc0cat wrote: post #172

ativzzz wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this basically collusion by companies? Didn't Google/Facebook get in trouble for trying something like this at some point?

One rule for lawyers one for the little people

SWEs making 300k+ are not the little people

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#236

Post by oh_sigh » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:43 PM UTC

fyfy18 wrote: post #174

ditonal wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason for that is way more variability in developer compensation. A company hiring a senior SWE in SF might be paying 130k or 400k. But until recently there wasn’t much transparency. My buddy is a nurse in Bay Area with a CRNA, it’s pretty much understood you make 225k plus any overtime so there’s not much more to discuss.

$225k for a nurse? And I thought there was a lot of desperaity of tech wages between Europe and the US... The average salary of a nurse in the UK is £25,000.

CRNA is a very specialized/advanced nurse, and OP used one of the highest cost of living areas in their example. CRNA nurses are called "medical nurse anesthetist" in England, and make around £100K/yr.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#237

Post by vecter » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #210

unoti wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...whiteboard questions on basic data structures and algorithms (I'm 40 and I still absolutely suck at those)... at my age it's time to accept that the window has closed on some things :) If you want to learn and are willing to put in the work you can do it. It will take some number of weeks or months, but it is totally doable with reading and practice. I read and practiced for a few months before getting my job at…

I think the question really is, when are these companies going to wake up to the idea that most people in their mid-40s who are successful programmers aren't writing leetcode, they're preventing junior engineers from checking in bad code, and handling large-scale outages with a few lines of analytics and config changes.

I think you're absolutely right in terms of senior engineers' responsibilities. My take is the following:

- It's hard to evaluate the skills you mentioned. They're important, but generally "softer".

- It's easy to validate if someone solved a cut and dry algorithms questions. As far as I can tell, it's basically a proxy for an IQ test.

I'm not justifying this, but that's my guess for why companies do this.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#238

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

tolbish wrote: post #13

I never understood why Netflix frequently gets mentioned in the same context as Apple, Google, and Amazon. I think I hear more about it than Microsoft on here. Can anyone explain this to me? Surely they aren't the only newish company that tries to employ smart people by paying well.

[deleted]

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#239

Post by subsubzero » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #211

subsubzero wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that is really a myth(highest pay). I know that bytedance pays more than netflix(stock + cash), also hedge funds, citadel and DE Shaw pay way more than netflix does. 500k-700k all cash, I just chatted with their recruiters the past month and this is what they saying comp packages for senior+ engineers go for.

Pay per hour is less at hedge funds and/or income is more volatile. Plus I would put a hefty quality of life premium for being able to live on the west coast over being stuck in NYC/Chicago.

Agree, any of the companies I mentioned I would never work at. Bytedance does 996, 9am to 9pm 6 days a week. Netflix has a keep looking over your back attitude which to me seems super toxic(have had 3 friends work there, and all three would not recommend it). Lastly hedge funds require work in places I would never live at: NYC, CHI, etc and have a cut throat culture that to me is not worth the positives(salary).

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#240

Post by tsss » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

ditonal wrote: post #50

znpy wrote: post #32

In my opinion a huge role in the raise of IT people salary is their tendency to brag about their salary, one way or another. For better or for worse, this lead to discussions about salary, negotiating practices, and to people looking elsewhere. I sometimes speak with people that work in other fields and many of them have zero clue about these topics, whereas in most IT-related discussion boards (whether it's HN, redd…

One reason for that is way more variability in developer compensation. A company hiring a senior SWE in SF might be paying 130k or 400k. But until recently there wasn’t much transparency. My buddy is a nurse in Bay Area with a CRNA, it’s pretty much understood you make 225k plus any overtime so there’s not much more to discuss.

225k for a nurse? Nurses in the US must be way more qualified than here to command that kind of salary.