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Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

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Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#81

Post by harryh »

icedchai wrote: post #54
bradleyjg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top tech talent, even in software, weren’t making the kind of money they are today. Top new grads going to the hottest employers could hope to make $50,000 all in (not counting stock options paying off down the road). $100,000 in guaranteed comp was all but unheard of for ICs. Programming was not yet at the doctor/lawyer level, much less the banker one. That started to change in the dotcom frenzy but that was still a…

Yep, my first year out of college (1998) I was making 50K at a local public tech company. Anyone in tech would laugh at that nowadays, but that was considered a "good" starting salary.

When I started at Microsoft in 2000 I believe my initial salary was 62k just as another reference plus some stock options (honestly I can't remember the details of that part). This was a very good comp package for a new college grad.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#82

Post by dan-robertson »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #25
smitty1e wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incentives happen because they are empirically effective. I would contend that the issue is less the content of the incentives but rather the perception of fairness. If everyone is aware how the bonuses work and feels their 'fair' share is obtained, then it just becomes another part of the calculus. I speculate as a non-manager that bonuses are a good way (in the federal contracting realm, from the company perspectiv…

> just becomes another part of the calculus. This is exactly what happens. So then why not just include it in the salary at that point? All you are doing with bonuses is just causing an opportunity for issues.

I think changing a bonus is a lot easier than changing a salary, especially if the bonus can be tied to the performance of the firm and therefore go down—salaries tend to be very sticky (ie hard to decrease)

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#83

Post by macksd »

sneak wrote: post #2

This is really making me want to buy an Alpha on ebay. Is there an OS that has ever had a better name than "Digital Unix"?

I thought Inferno sounded pretty cool. I do love a good pun, and it invokes memories of the original Doom.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#84

Post by minitoar »

mod wrote: post #64
flemhans wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20+ donuts, for how long? If daily and at $1/nut, that comes out to $100 per week. Was it just on some occasions or every morning?

That is a grossly over-exaggerated price for donuts imo.

1 dozen krispy kreme glazed donuts is like $8

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#85

Post by Igelau »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #6

I actually think bonuses and equity grants are terrible for comapany morale. I've seen it many times, and heard many more stories. On top of the issue in this story, there are others too. For example, if someone wants to leave, but the bonus or vesting is coming up, they will stay, and you don't want people on a project who don't want to be there. As another example I know people who work at companies that are going…

The bonus is a double-edged sword. There's nothing more demotivating than getting a bullshit explanation for why your bonus is reduced/non-existent.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#86

Post by musingsole »

wccrawford wrote: post #15

A bonus like this, I would never expect to actually get any portion worthwhile. Even if I performed well, there's going to be someone who doesn't. And it might even be me that doesn't perform. Who knows? Instead, I would just work at my usual pace, which is already quite fast, and I'd probably already have been being smart about the cost of components anyhow. In general, this leads to good outcomes anyhow, and I didn…

I did just this about a year ago. Big project, lots of "company will fail if this project fails" type of talk. So they trot out a bonus system. I literally didn't read the email.

Turns out it had a 2 part payment plan. Our team nailed the metrics for the first payment...and then didn't for the second. Which left management in the weird position of explaining how even though we had just signed 5 customers (in a quarter that had anticipated maybe 1 sale), we hadn't met metrics...and so no bonus. Watching execs peddle obvious bullshit to an undeniably successful team not interested in the smell was more my bonus than anything.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#87

Post by lazyasciiart »

hrocha1 wrote: post #68
shubik22 wrote: post #59

This reminds me of the holiday gifts at Google. By the time I joined, Google had already switched from physical gifts (e.g. a new Pixel) to allowing each employee to choose a charity to which Google.org would donate $1,000. Even years later, there was still bitterness among the employee base about the holiday gift. It was a bit mystifying to me (as I never had the expectation of a $400 electronic for a holiday gift f…

Step 1. create a charity that would "adopt" Google employees and give them Pixel phones Step 2. choose that charity and pick yourself for an adoption

Step 0: remember that people have been creating scam charities for a long time, so the IRS looks for it, knows more than you do about it, and does not like it.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#88

Post by m463 »

taeric wrote: post #26

This is literally a plot point in Christmas Vacation. Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks. It sets obvious precedent and will upset more folks when you stop. Find ways to invest in the company so that success is it's own perk. If the company truly has more, work that into raises where you clearly tie the income to the success of the company.

> Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks

Should the opposite be true as well? Startup employees going home at 5 and fighting unreasonable schedules?

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#89

Post by mattm »

ghaff wrote: post #35
jedberg wrote: post #17

When I worked at eBay, we had a bonus program based on company revenue. It was around 6% of your salary max and managers got around 25% max based on the same formula. For the first few years, you could count on getting a max bonus every quarter. To the point where most everyone who worked there had always gotten one. And the one quarter, we didn't get the max bonus. In fact, I don't think we got it all. People scream…

Past some point, it's just more money to put into savings--and lack of it is annoying and something to take into account for evaluating future options but not much more. But, yeah, you have people making less money for whom the expected quarterly bonus was factored into paying their mortgage.

There are plenty of stories of people making high incomes and still living paycheck to paycheck.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#90

Post by m463 »

adamcharnock wrote: post #57

This reminds me of my first job as a developer, age 21. I haven’t shared it before, so here goes... There was a ‘crunch’ coming up at work (i.e. IMHO, bad planning) and so the boss offered everyone a bonus if they performed well. However, the older employees warned me that the criteria for such bonuses were often ill-defined. I therefore pushed for clear achievable objectives. These pre-agreed objectives were promise…

> After that I went freelance. And 15 years later I can say it was the best decision ever.

Every time I've left a job, I've been uncertain and conflicted. Every. Time. Then, a week or two into the new job... Every. Time. ...I thought, "Wow! I should have done this sooner!"

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