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I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

cushychicken.github.io

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Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#921

Post by kelnos »

rr808 wrote: post #807
kelnos wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure I agree. Trinity study suggests that if you retire 30 years before death, you can safely withdraw 4% every year during retirement, regardless of economic fluctuations. If you retire super early and need 50 or 60 years, your safe withdrawal rate is probably closer to 3% or even 2%, though. Your point may be that we should expect significant economic turmoil in the near- and medium-term, much more than "fluctu…

Wow I never heard of the "Trinity Study", its a report written 25 years ago by a few guys at a small university I've never heard of. Remember back then bond yields were 5% and inflation was 2%, Clinton was president and the dotcom boom was really starting. Things are very different now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_study

I don't think "things are very different now" is a refutation of the study without providing more specifics. It's also been repeated more recently, with updated data. The 30-year results, I believe, still hold, but as I note, if your retirement horizon is much longer than 30 years, you'll have to be more conservative with your withdrawal rate.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#922

Post by kelnos »

jmstfv wrote: post #443
kelnos wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure I agree. Trinity study suggests that if you retire 30 years before death, you can safely withdraw 4% every year during retirement, regardless of economic fluctuations. If you retire super early and need 50 or 60 years, your safe withdrawal rate is probably closer to 3% or even 2%, though. Your point may be that we should expect significant economic turmoil in the near- and medium-term, much more than "fluctu…

> Consider that the 2021 inflation rate is likely a symptom of COVID It's mostly a symptom of reckless monetary and fiscal policies. > Monthly inflation rates for the last few months of 2021 were trending downward It's the opposite if CPI is to be believed (which is a big if): https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-pri...

> It's mostly a symptom of reckless monetary and fiscal policies.

... as a result of the pandemic...

The US public will not tolerate sustained high inflation. Congresspeople and presidents who push monetary and fiscal policies that increase inflation (and nominate Fed leadership that do the same) will get voted out over time.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#923

Post by InvaderFizz »

evancox100 wrote: post #359
InvaderFizz wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The recruiter that got me my current gig was great. I literally didn't fill out anything or apply. I handed him my current resume and that was it. He scheduled the interview rounds, managed the negotiations (10k more than my requirements), did everything. Sure, he's getting like $30k from my employer in a month, but whatever. That $30k has almost no impact on my compensation. He mainly does Dallas, but my position is…

Can you email me your Dallas recruiter’s information? Not currently in the market for anything but would be good to have on file and may be useful to some friends in town. Email is my username with one less 0, at gmail

You've got mail.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#924

Post by remram »

wreath wrote: post #920
remram wrote: post #906

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't pay income taxes when unemployed.

That's not what I meant. When you are employed in tech and pay say 25% taxes, saving 1200 for a bad day (when you are unemployed and have to pay insurance yourself) is not so bad compared to when you pay 40 taxes.

You've gone full circle then. Someone was pointing out that salaries are lower in Europe, someone else replied that on the other hand costs are lower (for example health insurance). To which you reply that it's fine because salary are lower.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#925

Post by PeterisP »

mcv wrote: post #591
jack_riminton wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked in a fintech D2C app, the distinction I drew was that there were 2 'products' - the financial product i.e getting 4% return on your money - the digital product i.e the app The 1st was the real product, the 2nd the nice-to-have Obviously core tech in banking is infinitely more critical than an app but the point is the same; the tech in banks, unless its 'quant', HFT or ML is not the money maker and there…

The app that people use to access their money is absolutely core tech. If the payment infrastructure goes down (or worse: is buggy), that's a massive problem. Banks that don't consider this core aren't keeping up.

The thing is, while reliability of payment infrastructure matters, the UX and convenience of it does not as much - "everyday services" are not the core business of the banks (for ordinary individuals, mortgages and consumer loans is, for high net value, investments), they are pretty much a loss-leader that needs to exist but it's neither a major revenue maker nor a determining factor for customers - e.g. they will shop around for the mortagage, and if they get a good deal, they'll switch to another bank without even looking at how convenient their apps are.

Yes, there are some consumers for whom those everyday services are everything and they'll go to some 'app only' bank that does that well and without excessive fees. From the point of a traditional bank, that's not a problem, good riddance - if they don't use other products and aren't willing to pay excessive fees for everyday things, there's no money in having them as customers, and when they'll want to do something profitable (e.g. take a mortgage) they'll come back from that app-only bank as that product (the financial product, not the tech product) is actually competitive.

Note: this is from an EU viewpoint. USA may have a bit different perspective as the regulations there allow quite a lot revenue streams (e.g. bounced check fees) from people with no money and no other products, in EU much of exploitative payment practices have become restricted, so these customers simply become unprofitable and not really desired, the main value of "having them" is that this might help you sell profitable products to them later when they have more money and/or more plans for credit.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#926

Post by nvarsj »

comp_throw7 wrote: post #886
exdsq wrote: post #796

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. This is really my point. People share these rumors of a small minority making huge sums and normalize it as what anyone can do, which just does harm to the industry and to individuals. People actually in the sector/area know it’s not true yet there are those just sharing things they heard like facts.

Entry-level SWE comp for top-end finance shops in Chicago & NY is 400k+, so, ah, no. See levels.fyi.

While I think salaries have gone up in recent years, I'm also going to call BS on 400k for entry level. I just looked at levels.fyi, and I'm not seeing that all. A couple unverified outliers for Citadel doesn't represent the majority of devs. I'm mostly seeing in the 100-200 region for the firms I checked, with Citadel at the top in the 200-300 region.

Also keep in mind bonuses are rarely guaranteed or part of packages, so they are completely speculative for new grads.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#927

Post by comp_throw7 »

nvarsj wrote: post #926
comp_throw7 wrote: post #886

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entry-level SWE comp for top-end finance shops in Chicago & NY is 400k+, so, ah, no. See levels.fyi.

While I think salaries have gone up in recent years, I'm also going to call BS on 400k for entry level. I just looked at levels.fyi, and I'm not seeing that all. A couple unverified outliers for Citadel doesn't represent the majority of devs. I'm mostly seeing in the 100-200 region for the firms I checked, with Citadel at the top in the 200-300 region. Also keep in mind bonuses are rarely guaranteed or part of packag…

It's not a "couple" of unverified outliers for Citadel, it's like half of their offers in the last few months.

It's also baseline entry-level comp at Jane Street, and Hudson River Trading goes even higher.

First-year bonuses are generally guaranteed, and after that are "speculative" in the same way that stock compensation is speculative - largely dependent on firm performance (though personal performance can actually pull it them significantly in finance, unlike with stock).

I didn't say this was the majority of devs, I said this was entry-level comp for "top-end finance shops", which is true. It is also true that there are competitors in that space which pay much less, just like there are tech companies which pay much less FAANG & Co, but does not mean that FAANG & Co don't exist or shouldn't be relevant to people's decision-making.

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