If it is so easy for US companies to hire good remote developers en masse from places where it is cheaper to live than it is in the major US tech hubs, then why did US companies not start doing it years ago? Are the people who run software companies so cautious that it took mass enforced work from home to make them decide that hiring cheap developers remotely could actually work? I have some doubts about this. Maybe hiring good cheap remote developers is not as easy as it seems.
Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
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Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#32This is an outrageously selfish post. Americans aren't the only people in the world.
Trying to hoard jobs will not do the US any good.
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#33I think one reason why wages might not decrease is communication speed. My team works with folks in Europe and Singapore, and while the asynchronous communication works and we love our teammates the time delay can be killer. Worse, if you do need to speak realtime you need to hop on meetings at odd hours. Who wants to do that? It might be cheaper, but if cost reduction was a factor I feel like we’d already have done it. I think communication speed will minimize any salary impact by a globalized talent pool.
US domestic competition is a concern, but my hunch is that even with the wider talent pool companies will still have trouble recruiting and good developers will still have leverage over not needing to move. I think it would be interesting to find numbers on how concentrated developers are in expensive cities, I know plenty of people who moved to California for the work.
Also, if my wage suddenly decreased to match levels with places that are cheaper to live in I’d probably have to move away from all my friends and now family as I wouldn’t be able to afford to live where I currently do (SV). That would suck, and I think it’s fair that I feel concern over losing that. Not sure where all the negativity in this thread is coming from.
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#34If someone earning half your salary is able to satisfy everything that you offered to the company, I think the problem is not what you mentioned but it is a reflection of inflated salaries in the valley.
I think it is a good thing if this happens. This salary inflation has made it impossible for anyone else to afford living there. It will also help curb the entitlement that valley IT employees carry around thinking that they are always changing the world.
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#35I don't see how this is not already happening pre-WFH: most big tech companies have offices in Ukraine, Belarus, India, China, etc with "low cost" tech workers.
Has been happening since the 2000s
Tech salaries still went up.
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#36This might surprise you but Americans aren't the only people on this forum. But I guess it's okay to leave us all out to pasture if it means you can concentrate just a bit more of wealth.
> But I guess it's okay to leave us all out to pasture if it means you can concentrate just a bit more of wealth. If we're speaking of things like employment, of course people should look out for their own self-interest. Proposing the opposite is to propose suicide. The people of Norway should donate their trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund to Togo? As opposed to continuing to concentrate their extraordinary wealt…
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Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#37Hot take: if you're a mediocre dev, maybe be worried; if you're in a niche and have deep expertise you'll be fine.
That’s what barrel makers told the horseshoe fitters :)
From Wikipedia In some countries, such as the UK, horseshoeing is legally restricted to people with specific qualifications and experience
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#38Well at least it'll curb some entitlement from the current IT crowd. A lot of IT people making 4x more than people of other professions assume that they are the cream of the crop and sincerely believe that their work is so hard that they deserve to have a 4 hour working day (because it is 'impossible' on being productive for a longer period of time in a day). No. People in other areas work just as hard, or harder, it…
The question of working 4 hours is more like 4 hours of intense work and honestly nobody in any industry could consistently put more than 4 hours a day without burning themselves up (or they’re some type A personality and feel miserable not working every single waking moment of their lives). Second, the IT industry has some of the highest burnout rates, that must have something to do with the amount of work put in, don’t you think?
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#39Your arguments really need a jump in logic to be accepted.
They also completely fall apart when you realize two things:
Offshoring has been happening for decades. H1B abuse has been happening for decades.
Yet salaries rose.
Re: Tell HN: Don't root for WFH, it might destroy well-paying jobs
#40Well at least it'll curb some entitlement from the current IT crowd. A lot of IT people making 4x more than people of other professions assume that they are the cream of the crop and sincerely believe that their work is so hard that they deserve to have a 4 hour working day (because it is 'impossible' on being productive for a longer period of time in a day). No. People in other areas work just as hard, or harder, it…
The question of working 4 hours is more like 4 hours of intense work and honestly nobody in any industry could consistently put more than 4 hours a day without burning themselves up (or they’re some type A personality and feel miserable not working every single waking moment of their lives). Second, the IT industry has some of the highest burnout rates, that must have something to do with the amount of work put in, d…
> Second, the IT industry has some of the highest burnout rates, that must have something to do with the amount of work put in, don’t you think?
Citation needed? I don't see IT anywhere on this list... https://stress.lovetoknow.com/Which_Professionals_are_Prone_...