Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

insights.dice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 448 posts

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#411

Post by oxfordmale »

wegs wrote: post #368
bdavisx wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with your premise on the 10x developer in concept (although what 10x means is up for debate). I agree with the fact that a team of "good" developers will outperform a team of The issue is, whiteboarding people on trivia programming problems doesn't determine if they are a 10x/good developer - it only determines if they understand the particular trivia they are asked.

Well, no. My experience is that the technical interview is a noisy fizz-buzz. Good developers need to know algorithms and data structures, and be able to write code. If they can't even do that, they're definitely NOT a 10x'er. If they can, the next part is fit. You need to get over both bars to be hired. All of this is incredibly noisy, so part of what happens is you have to set the bar high, since 37% of the people…

Your approach suffers from regression to the mean. You would hire someone who happens to do very well on the interview, likely someone who thrives on an adrenaline rush.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#412

Post by tasuki »

city41 wrote: post #296
Xavdidtheshadow wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind me asking, what prompted you to leave? Also, did you find the culture as cutthroat as it's rumored to be?

There are many reasons I left, but mostly I'm interested in trying new things. I want to either pursue freelancing or find a role at a small company. Two things I've never really done before. As for the culture. It's not nearly as cutthroat as people assume it is. But it's true that Netflix wants you to perform well. This gets balanced out with good communication from management and your peers. Netflix emphasizes can…

Kudos. Small companies can be great fun!

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#413

Post by ayewo »

asciident wrote: post #116
cbanek wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I'm a 100x developer or anything, but I think people underestimate the compounding interest of being a 5x-10x developer. If you architect things just right today, that can save you a lot of time tomorrow. Spending time testing today can save weeks of bug time later, which can be spent to create something useful, compounding on itself. If we say green field is 10x, and someone is doing good things, I thi…

I was involved in an accidental situation where two teams at different companies worked on the exact same project from the same starting point, each led by different developers. This was not the company's core product, but a necessary part of it (for anonymity, let's say this was the device driver for a fancy piece of hardware). The lead developers on each selected different frameworks, used different data architectu…

This is an interesting story. Was wondering if you have it written up somewhere so I can cite it? If not, perhaps you could mention how you’d like for it to be cited, thanks.

On a lighter note your username definitely checks out :)

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#414

Post by sammorrowdrums »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #222
sammorrowdrums wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well scarcity is generally the best indicator. For a long time software developers have been a scarce resource and therefore hiring good engineers is competitive. It's true that some market forces and potential value of what is created are factors else nobody would pay for the premium, but he generally scarcity rules here. For a contrived example, why is caviar astronomically more expensive than bread? It's not the c…

Caviar is astronomically more expensive because it is both scarce AND people willing to buy it are able and willing to pay a high amount for it. Ability and willingness of buyers to pay is just as important as low supply. If caviar was scarce, and the only people interested in buying it had no money, then it would simply be unavailable. Or maybe whatever little supply there is would sell for as much as the buyers cou…

Correct, that's what I meant by:

> It's true that some market forces and potential value of what is created are factors else nobody would pay for the premium

Although, amazingly demand can be manufactured to some extent (where potential demand has to exist of course). De Beers managed it with 'A Diamond Is Forever' where they managed to become the de facto engagement ring stone. Scarcity + good marketing does seem to be a magnet for the wealthy.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#415

Post by baq »

chrismcb wrote: post #406
baq wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fire alarm tests happen at office campuses at regular intervals and aren’t announced beforehand. That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job and you’re little more than a row in a spreadsheet before and after the interview, perhaps even during, too. I wish this was taught instead of having to be hard won experience, especially since this is obvious as soon…

At regular interviews, like every few years. And they will almost always announce them ahead of time. Not to the second, but I've always known when a test was coming. Of course they weren't always tests.

Sounds like you've got it easy. At my $DAYJOB it's once every ~6 months and they always measure time for the building to empty, so they don't want people to leave or not come in on that day.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#416

Post by baq »

bird_monster wrote: post #306
baq wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fire alarm tests happen at office campuses at regular intervals and aren’t announced beforehand. That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job and you’re little more than a row in a spreadsheet before and after the interview, perhaps even during, too. I wish this was taught instead of having to be hard won experience, especially since this is obvious as soon…

> That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job This isn't really a thing candidates should care about, IMO. It is fine to demand decency out of interviewers, and it is fine to callout when bad things happen while people are "Just doing their job."

Of course it is, never said otherwise, just don't be surprised if you don't get treated decently and especially you shouldn't give up your dreams on the grounds of failing one interview.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#417

Post by thu2111 »

ativzzz wrote: post #152
s1artibartfast wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is a lot of truth to this. Big Law is a great example of this, where the nearly every firm operates in lockstep on the Craveth Scale[1]. If one firm increases salary, every other firm will for for same cycle. https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

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

Why would companies collude to raise salaries? If other law firms did not raise salaries to remain competitive, that would be suspicious, especially if the firm that did mysteriously lowered them again a short time later.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#418

Post by thu2111 »

pier25 wrote: post #194

Netflix seems to have the best tech, at least from a user perspective in Mexico. On my LG tv their app is the best, by far. I wish all the other services just served their content through Netflix. All new content has 4K HDR with Dolby vision/atmos and streaming is quite fast on my 200 Mbps fiber connection. HBO Go is pure garbage. The app is clunky and has way worse UX than Netflix. The streaming quality is absolute…

Apple TV device UI is pretty great as you'd expect, but the core tech is buggy - sometimes video will just stop playing for no apparent reason, or the audio system will die and you'll have to reboot the device.

Apple TV app on macOS Catalina is a disaster zone. iTunes was pretty bad but the new app manages to be just as confusing, with fewer features, and worse of all it crashes immediately and reliably if you do something totally unexpected, like plugging your laptop into a TV via HDMI. Ridiculous.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#419

Post by dvfjsdhgfv »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #227
dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same feeling. After he said he sees no any benefit of remote work, I stopped being interested in anything he has to say.

That's not exactly what he said was it, he was talking about the interplay you get with every one in the same room. Ill give you an example I did a RAD (agile) project with one other developer back in the early web days two of us flew up to Edinburgh and given a clean room and with a co located team produced some thing that another group had quoted two years. Netflix are not paying some one 500k to half arse JIRA tic…

I understand your example and there are definitely cases when working as a team in person makes you (much) more productive. However, Hastings went to the extreme. Especially for people who read headlines and article summaries, he sends a very clear message:

* Netflix’s Reed Hastings Deems Remote Work ‘a Pure Negative’ (https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflixs-reed-hastings-deems-re...)

* Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on Working From Home: ‘I Don’t See Any Positives’ (https://finance.yahoo.com/video/netflix-ceo-no-positives-wor...)

His opinions are in stark contract with those of other CEOs in charge of the health and lives of their employees across the country.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#420

Post by ende »

oscargrouch wrote: post #397
nullsense wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Doing the work" meaning having to study to relearn a thing that I'll maybe use sparingly in my work means the interview process is broken, not anyone's motivation I used to think this too, but as a filter I think it's having the desired effect. From the outside looking in Life at a FAANG seems competitive in nature and they are optimizing for the people willing to push themselves that far to learn something. The ad…

I think that is reasonable that a company do some tests on folks that don't have much baggage to show for, because in this case they are doing a wild guess and must count a little bit on luck. But the parent was on his 30-something when he did the interview, and i bet he had a lot in his curriculum to show for, so in this case the company dont have to guess anymore. I think it says a little bit that the HR is failing…

This is something that has always perplexed me. These interviews may make sense for an entry level candidate with no ink on their resume beyond a GPA, but then any amount of actual work history just gets completely discarded. Experience needs to count for something.
Post reply on HN