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Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

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Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#511

Post by throwaway321654 »

hkt wrote: post #471
throwaway321654 wrote: post #292

Does anyone have any info/data/anecdotes for the UK job market. (or infact any non-US market) My story (hence the throwaway account)... Last year we got no pay rises and were told "no increases this year because covid uncertainty". This year it's a rather megre 2% percent that doesn't even beat inflation, even more so when viewed over two flat years. I'm obviously looking around and can likely get some small increase…

> So why is remote work being blamed for driving salaries up, shouldn't it have opened up the talent pool for hiring companies just as much as it's opened up the potential choice for applicants. Same reason house price rises are so sticky: you don't have to move unless you've got something better to go to. Rising salaries are about turnover as much as anything else.

But if a dev working up north for £50k takes a remote job from London paying £60k that would normally have paid £100k for someone local, they are getting something better and the company are getting someone cheaper. Doesn't this drive London salaries down because all the local people now have to complete with remote people willing to take less?

So yes it increases salaries in some places, but decreases them in the headline areas where they were highest to start with. Remote work should be a force to move everything to the mean, not just a force for increasing salaries.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#512

Post by golergka »

throwanem wrote: post #428
golergka wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been reading comments on HN about the coming crash for 10 years now. I have even believed them at first.

Well, this is the first time I've predicted one, so I suppose we'll get to find out how I do at it - not well, I hope.

It's not about you as a person, it's about the premises for such a prognosis. Nothing that's happening now is significantly different from what's already been happening for the last 10 years.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#513

Post by reverseblade2 »

I agree. I am not FAANG but the second biggest tech company next to Apple:) I think pandemy affected this a lot. Companies looking for local people have less options now as immigration has become difficult.

But also remote options made highly paid devs more accessible.

I am currently in Norway and when I turn on "I am open" in LinkedIn, my phone just doesn't stop ringing.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#514

Post by thrwyoilarticle »

s5300 wrote: post #424
thrwyoilarticle wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree about Facebook engineers especially - the website is just broken. Where is all that talent going, Horizon?

No it's not. Old people with fairly pitiful lives spend the vast majority of their days on in and bring in an absolute dick load of ad revenue. This is what it's designed for, and it's doing it pretty damn well.

If the broken features didn't matter, they wouldn't have added them. Extracting ad rent is not a long term business plan.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#515

Post by hinoki »

grp000 wrote: post #496
hinoki wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salaries in Japan are 65-70% of SF Bay Area (for FAANG, local is much worse) London, U.K. is about the same as Japan. I don’t have experience with India, and my knowledge of Canada is too far out of date to be useful. All those salaries are very good for the local market, but are also much lower than SF.

After travelling in Japan, I was really surprised by how cheap apartments are in Tokyo. For reference, this was 3 years ago near the big main Sumo arena/dojo, at around $800 USD/month, and fast food was around $4 USD/meal. I don't know anything about the income tax rates, but 65-70% pay seems like you'd take home more than an SFer being paid SF rates.

If you’re ok with a tiny apartment, yes. If you want some space or have a family it’s not as cheap, but it is definitely less than 65% of Bay Area rent.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#516

Post by barrkel »

schreiaj wrote: post #420
barrkel wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RSUs - way more liquid than options, they're practically cash in the bank when they vest, but watch out for cliffs (i.e. vesting schedule). Amazon is particularly bad (tail weighted), Google is particularly generous (every month).

No cliff, but the vesting schedule is based on amount granted. For _most_ engineers it's likely monthly.

Well sure, if you don't have enough to add up to a share every month then you won't get a share every month. If the price continues to rise and there's no stock split that will probably become more likely in the future.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#517

Post by dom96 »

mabbo wrote: post #129
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side - I tell recruiters immediately they have to AT LEAST match my current comp. Every single one of them so far has said they can't even get close. If you work at FAANG - your RSUs (most likely) have doubled in about a year. You could easily already be getting paid more than the max offer for the level above where you're currently at.

I've actually seen the opposite. I'm at a FAANG, but based in Toronto. For the first time, recruiters are saying to me that yeah, they can do better than that total comp. Often much better. I like my boss and team, but if someone offers me enough money and a fully remote job, well, it's going to be hard to say no.

I wish this was the case in London. I'm at a FAANG and have recently done a few interview loops with non-FAANG companies based in London (as well as a few that are based in SF but hire remote in London) and all were offering Starting to wonder if there is simply no chance of getting even close to the FAANG TC and whether I'm stuck for the 4 years at my current job.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#518

Post by yosito »

naasking wrote: post #246
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you care about cover letters? I haven’t written one of those in probably 20 years. If I’m hiring and a candidate includes one, I usually ignore it (when hiring for an individual contributor, engineering role).

I've only paid attention to cover letters for junior positions, mainly to evaluate communication skills.

Do you not consider communication skills important for senior positions?

Some of the worst companies I ever worked at didn't value communication skills for senior positions, and I couldn't leave those roles fast enough!

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#519

Post by steenreem »

gavinray wrote: post #146
tcbumperino wrote: post #83

Once you’re coasting in the 400-500k FAANG range, what’s the optimal move to get 700-800k+? Seems there are too many graybeards to get a Principal title. Better to switch to manager role? Or VP eng type at some startup and hope your stock hits? Or maybe VP at some non tech company?

What kind of a fairy tale is this -- 400, 500, 800k? I make ~110k, and I have no hobbies but code + contribute to a variety of OSS projects in my freetime. What sort of software do you have to be writing besides magic money printing machines for it to be worth that amount of money?

I think much of the software might be the same as at any another company. These companies are so profitable that they're willing to offer more $$$ to get slightly better people to do regular work slightly better than it's done on average.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#520

Post by yosito »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #204
yosito wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider the fact that many desirable jobs get hundreds of applicants. It's entirely possible that even if your resume is top notch it got lost in a huge pool of candidates. You need to send your resume to hundreds of companies. I have a top-tier resume, and when I job search, I aim to send my resume (and cover letter/email) to 10+ companies per day. On the other side, last time I was hiring, I was shocked at the low…

Why do you care about cover letters? I haven’t written one of those in probably 20 years. If I’m hiring and a candidate includes one, I usually ignore it (when hiring for an individual contributor, engineering role).

A cover letter is an introduction. It's easy, and polite. Skipping it communicates low effort and poor communication skills. I don't want to work with low effort, poor communicators, even if they're genius programmers.
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