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Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

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Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interviews I had, usually are a discussions about the projects I had done and the choices I had made and questions that stem from there. I am not sure what is unsatisfying about interviews like that.

This interview process selects for someone with whom the interviewer might enjoy having meetings. I’d imagine it’s very hard to distinguish between a good talker and a good worker. Maybe some people can do it, but this is not a skill set I’d expect everyone conducting interviews to possess. The data shows that humans are terrible at every kind of interview assessment. This is why I appreciate an approach with mechani…

This conversation has been beaten to death, but I'll bite.

I think the problem with whiteboardy-type interviews is they've become closer to trivia. The fact that you grinded LeetCode and others read CTCI kind of prove that, no? As in, people go far out of their way to learn a skill _just to pass the interview_.

> I’d imagine it’s very hard to distinguish between a good talker and a good worker. Maybe some people can do it, but this is not a skill set I’d expect everyone conducting interviews to possess.

Interviewing is a skill and should be treated as such. This means possessing a set of skills any dev off the floor won't necessarily have, and that should be expected. 99% of devs don't have the skills required to conduct a whiteboard interview as an interviewer correctly either, and yet that seems to be generally accepted as okay.

> The data shows that humans are terrible at every kind of interview assessment.

Exactly, which is why, in my posts above, I pointed at things other than the interview as reasons you might be very happy with the quality of your coworkers work. It seems silly to say "The data shows that humans are terrible at every kind of interview assessment", but then also attribute anything from your job to a specific style of interview assessment, right?

You'd get further as a company by investing in training, code quality (review, analysis, etc), leadership, and healthy firing processes.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose I'm pointing out the nuance between "Big Tech Co", "Startup" and FAANG. There are plenty of big tech companies that pay well, offer a lot of freedom, interesting tech, but are also not FAANG companies with silly interviewing practices.

> There are plenty of big tech companies that pay well, offer a lot of freedom, interesting tech, but are also not FAANG companies with silly interviewing practices. Names? I’m genuinely interested in places paying near 400k/yr but without stringent whiteboard exercises. Haven’t seen them tho...

> 400k/yr

Are you currently making 400k a year?

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#433
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…

> On a different topic: is there any data for salaries in other fields for the same companies (FAANG and similar) ? It'd be interesting to see how much earns, for example, a lawyer in such companies.

The government requires that companies publicly report salary data for H1Bs. You can google for that data. Here's one site https://h1bsalary.online/

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are plenty of big tech companies that pay well, offer a lot of freedom, interesting tech, but are also not FAANG companies with silly interviewing practices. Names? I’m genuinely interested in places paying near 400k/yr but without stringent whiteboard exercises. Haven’t seen them tho...

> 400k/yr Are you currently making 400k a year?

They pay that much. https://www.levels.fyi/ I'm only going to be joining FAANG or similar if they pay that much as I have no incentive to otherwise.

My personal situation doesn't seem relevant to the question. Depending on how you look at it - I am. It's just that over half of it isn't liquid right now - but will likely be next year or the year after.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 400k/yr Are you currently making 400k a year?

They pay that much. https://www.levels.fyi/ I'm only going to be joining FAANG or similar if they pay that much as I have no incentive to otherwise. My personal situation doesn't seem relevant to the question. Depending on how you look at it - I am. It's just that over half of it isn't liquid right now - but will likely be next year or the year after.

> They pay that much. https://www.levels.fyi/

Very much aware what they pay.

> I'm only going to be joining FAANG or similar if they pay that much as I have no incentive to otherwise

If this is your perspective, best of luck to you, I hope it works out. You've ignored most of what I was trying to say, which is fine. I hope you find the success you're looking for.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#436
post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Sorry, usually when people say "Just someone trying to do their job", it means "Don't give this person shit because they're just trying to get through the day."

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do/did you work at Netflix? I've never seen nor even heard of these things in Open Connect after 5+ years..

All I’ll say is that I was in engineering on a team that worked with the OC team.

Edit: OCP

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#438
post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pay that much. https://www.levels.fyi/ I'm only going to be joining FAANG or similar if they pay that much as I have no incentive to otherwise. My personal situation doesn't seem relevant to the question. Depending on how you look at it - I am. It's just that over half of it isn't liquid right now - but will likely be next year or the year after.

> They pay that much. https://www.levels.fyi/ Very much aware what they pay. > I'm only going to be joining FAANG or similar if they pay that much as I have no incentive to otherwise If this is your perspective, best of luck to you, I hope it works out. You've ignored most of what I was trying to say, which is fine. I hope you find the success you're looking for.

The alternative is work on blah-blah-blah but make literally half as much. For people who live in very expensive regions - FAANG and the similar are the only options to a semi-regular middle-class lifestyle. When non-updated 1930's homes that are 1000sqft on 4000sqft lots are regularly going for over $1.7mil - you can't really afford a typical middle class lifestyle on $180k/yr income.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#439
post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They pay that much. https://www.levels.fyi/ Very much aware what they pay. > I'm only going to be joining FAANG or similar if they pay that much as I have no incentive to otherwise If this is your perspective, best of luck to you, I hope it works out. You've ignored most of what I was trying to say, which is fine. I hope you find the success you're looking for.

The alternative is work on blah-blah-blah but make literally half as much. For people who live in very expensive regions - FAANG and the similar are the only options to a semi-regular middle-class lifestyle. When non-updated 1930's homes that are 1000sqft on 4000sqft lots are regularly going for over $1.7mil - you can't really afford a typical middle class lifestyle on $180k/yr income.

You don't need to explain to me the economics of San Francisco. If you prioritize living in San Francisco over everything, you should try to make as much money as you possibly can. Best of luck.

Re: Netflix CEO explains why he pays technologists huge salaries

#440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When I look for a streaming video service, I want to make sure their programmers are the best. The content isn't as important as the user interface or the algorithms that tell me what to watch." Do you realize how absurd that sounds? Content is King. If Netflix had crap content, it wouldn't matter how good their programmers are, because the content would still be crap. I can tell you from experience that if Netflix…

> Content is King. If Netflix had crap content, it wouldn't matter how good their programmers are I don't think I ever once said "content doesn't matter". If they only had dynamite content and a shitty user experience people would simply pirate the content and not pay for it. > Yeah, I'm old. I've been around. I don't need you explaining anything to me. I try every day to not become like that.

>If they only had dynamite content and a shitty user experience people would simply pirate the content and not pay for it.

Most people have no clue how to pirate anything. Out of 100 people in your life, including all your relatives, honestly, how many of them are willing and capable of pirating content? If you think it's over 25% you will have me ROFLOL. And all of those people will be just fine with a less flashy UI than Netflix has to watch content they want to watch. I mean, they've been using cable boxes for years and those absolutely SUCK for finding content - but they still watched, because there is content they want to watch, or not, so they don't watch.

You're really making some very weak arguments.

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