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The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

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Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#71

Post by bombcar »

notacoward wrote: post #51
tjpnz wrote: post #14

There's been a lot of posturing here over the years about how doesn't do layoffs, but we're starting to see that not even they are immune anymore. I hope everyone has some savings put aside if things really do turn to shit.

I predict that some of these companies will try to avoid the taint of layoffs by doing them in sneaky ways. One classic method is using "performance" reviews to reduce/deny bonuses and equity awards, or in some cases simply terminate people whose objective performance is fine. Another is to cancel projects or reorganize, offering the "opportunity" for an internal transfer except that many will be surprisingly unable…

Given the rapidity which people move around at FAANGs just slowing down hiring can be enough to be an effective reduction in force.

The problem with people leaving voluntarily is that they’re often your best performers (and so have the best outside prospects) whereas the people who “have it good” are less likely to rock the boat.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#73

Post by htormey »

neill wrote: post #67
htormey wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. This is well paid but not out of the ordinary for someone working at a top tier tech company in NYC/SF Bay Area. Think Facebook, Apple, etc. see https://www.levels.fyi/ for levels and comparison. Some of those companies are doing hiring freezes right now but many are not. Salary bands are adjusted within the USA by zones where NYC/SF/Seattle are zone 1, zone 2 is 90% of base, zone 3 is 85%. With equity component…

This is extremely out of the ordinary- Levels.fyi lists a salary of $224,000 for a Staff level SWE at Google

No you are incorrect. That 224k is base at google not including equity. Staff engineers at google get a bonus and the majority of their comp is in equity, just like coin.

Source, I have a lot of friends who are former/current staff engineers at a variety of Bay Area companies. I also was a staff engineer at coin.

Also if you want to earn something like this in cash go work at Netflix when they start hiring again. They give you the option to be paid in cash.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#74

Post by itsoktocry »

rco8786 wrote: post #68
neill wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue they are raising is specifically that, $380k standardized salary band, what role is this? That number seems unsustainable.

Why? Because it’s higher than you’re used to seeing? You don’t even know what role that person was applying for. Is your position that 380k is just “too high”, period? That number (or higher) has been the norm at a huge swath of stable and profitable tech companies for a decade+. I am making an assumption that 380 is total comp and not base salary. I don’t believe that Coinbase is paying 380 base salary for any non-e…

>Why? Because it’s higher than you’re used to seeing? You don’t even know what role that person was applying for. Is your position that 380k is just “too high”, period?

Perhaps because the company lost half a billion dollars last quarter and is in a controversial space facing regulatory scrutiny?

>That number (or higher) has been the norm at a huge swath of stable and profitable tech companies for a decade+.

Yeah, stable and profitable.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#75

Post by ojbyrne »

neill wrote: post #67
htormey wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. This is well paid but not out of the ordinary for someone working at a top tier tech company in NYC/SF Bay Area. Think Facebook, Apple, etc. see https://www.levels.fyi/ for levels and comparison. Some of those companies are doing hiring freezes right now but many are not. Salary bands are adjusted within the USA by zones where NYC/SF/Seattle are zone 1, zone 2 is 90% of base, zone 3 is 85%. With equity component…

This is extremely out of the ordinary- Levels.fyi lists a salary of $224,000 for a Staff level SWE at Google

I’m guessing 380k is total comp, which is 498k for staff at Google.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#76

Post by dasil003 »

neill wrote: post #67
htormey wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. This is well paid but not out of the ordinary for someone working at a top tier tech company in NYC/SF Bay Area. Think Facebook, Apple, etc. see https://www.levels.fyi/ for levels and comparison. Some of those companies are doing hiring freezes right now but many are not. Salary bands are adjusted within the USA by zones where NYC/SF/Seattle are zone 1, zone 2 is 90% of base, zone 3 is 85%. With equity component…

This is extremely out of the ordinary- Levels.fyi lists a salary of $224,000 for a Staff level SWE at Google

The coin base is almost certainly total comp, especially since they give annual (rather than the standard 4-year) equity grants.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#77

Post by ForHackernews »

gitfan86 wrote: post #32
bearjaws wrote: post #22

I think this is just the correction that was inevitable as hiring had become a cargo cult. Everyone was hiring so everyone felt compelled to hire, creating a feedback loop of insane wages and offers. Now its time to pay the bills and many organizations realize the engineers they hired cannot possibly provide the value necessary to keep their job. I know one individual who got hired as a Sales Engineer for a platform…

I has a phone screen at Coinbase and they just threw out 380k as the salary without me saying anything as far as expectations. This reminds me of the dot com bubble. In 2000 people who had no software background and were making 50k would get offers for 80k, just for showing up at an interview and saying they know Java or HTML

Huh, I guess this explains why so many otherwise-sceptical and intelligent engineers are so motivated to pretend 'web3' is a thing.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#78

Post by francisofascii »

warent wrote: post #72

People are calling this a correction... I don't understand the first thing about economics. Over the last quarter, the Nasdaq is down 25%. That's a correction? Seems pretty serious

And the Nasdaq is still up 116% over the last five years. So some would argue, that yes, it was and maybe still is overvalued.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#79

Post by ticviking »

warent wrote: post #72

People are calling this a correction... I don't understand the first thing about economics. Over the last quarter, the Nasdaq is down 25%. That's a correction? Seems pretty serious

Ultimately probably. There's a lot of "value" that isn't linked to any work someone is actually doing. Eventually the price of companies depending on that illusion has to come down to reflect the reality.

Re: The tech sector teardown is more catharsis than crisis

#80

Post by lumost »

warent wrote: post #72

People are calling this a correction... I don't understand the first thing about economics. Over the last quarter, the Nasdaq is down 25%. That's a correction? Seems pretty serious

People have called Tech bubbles since 2012, There have been at least 2-3 similar sell-offs over the last decade that simply lead to higher tech valuations within a year or two. Hence the term "correction" is used, this also helps assuage nervous retail investors that another '01 or '08 crash isn't around the corner.

The difference between then and now is that interest rates are blasting through the roof along with inflation. The underlying question that CEO's need to think through is whether this is a long-term shift in the funding environment, or a short-term blip. If the latter, actually taking the foot off the gas instead of saying that you will could lead to missed growth relative to competitors.

Now, in the event that its a long-term shift - there will certainly be firms who run into the wall from not taking their foot off the gas.

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