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Tech's Elite Hates Labor

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Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#161

Post by whimsicalism »

habosa wrote: post #65

I think because individual tech workers are so highly paid relative to other industries, we fail to see how low our pay is relative to what the people at the top are making. A high performing Google engineer may make 500k+ in total comp, Sundar Pichai makes $100M+ in many years. That's 200x as much ... and the baseline is already super high. You see startup founders who exit with generational wealth (tens or hundreds…

> The other industries known for highly paid labor (finance, law, and medicine in the US) do not distribute rewards this way. Yes the people at the stop are still pulling in massive pay but there's a much stronger distribution of profits throughout the labor pyramid.

Not true at all. Partners & MD take a much larger share of the pie compared to execs at tech companies.

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#162

Post by flashgordon »

coding123 wrote: post #131
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But CEOs don't actually have that much impact... So whatever decisions - in this example - Sundar makes, it only carries so much weight. And, you also get fired if you're a $500k engineer and you suck at your job. So I'm not sure what's so much different about Sundar - except that if he sucks at his job he has a way better golden parachute.

You're Apple's CEO, its 2018 and you are about to bet 80% of the current profit stream on M1 platform or stick with Intel. What do you do?

Except the M1 did not magically show up at the CEO's doorstep by one of their underlings in 2018. Apple (i am guessing) would have had several secret projects pointing towards this. Doesn't seem out of the ordinary given how many parallel streams they would have had to invest in to bring all those iP[aeiou]*d devices (running non-intel) to market?

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#163

Post by rchowe »

coding123 wrote: post #131
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But CEOs don't actually have that much impact... So whatever decisions - in this example - Sundar makes, it only carries so much weight. And, you also get fired if you're a $500k engineer and you suck at your job. So I'm not sure what's so much different about Sundar - except that if he sucks at his job he has a way better golden parachute.

You're Apple's CEO, its 2018 and you are about to bet 80% of the current profit stream on M1 platform or stick with Intel. What do you do?

You take the bet because it's not even your entire profit stream and iPhone is much more of your revenue.

Tim Cook's operational experience helped them increase their market cap dramatically once he took over, so I'm not sure you can discount the value of him as CEO.

A bad CEO can definitely drive a company into the ground, so in many cases I think the pay can make sense. Spending the money does not assure a good pick though...

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#164

Post by eropple »

jmeister wrote: post #144
habosa wrote: post #65

I think because individual tech workers are so highly paid relative to other industries, we fail to see how low our pay is relative to what the people at the top are making. A high performing Google engineer may make 500k+ in total comp, Sundar Pichai makes $100M+ in many years. That's 200x as much ... and the baseline is already super high. You see startup founders who exit with generational wealth (tens or hundreds…

In finance, law, and medicine, the workers are the product roughly. Anyway this debate about being 1000x more valuable is pointless. It does not matter what any individual thinks about their worth. We've all agreed(#) on this system(the worst, except for all others) ostensibly because of the benefits to the rest of society. The internal allocation of profits within a company is irrelevant. # The old Marxist limitatio…

> It takes nothing to sieze the means of production(just grab it from the cloud) or raise capital.

It takes time.

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#165

Post by pdntspa »

treis wrote: post #15

Sometimes I can't even begin to comprehend the POVs I read on the internet. The FAANGs and adjacent companies treat their workers better than pretty much any other company in the world. The idea that workers there are somehow this abused underclass is ridiculous.

That's why they call them "golden handcuffs" and "gilded cages"

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#166

Post by nodemaker »

In this thread, tech people whining they are'nt paid very well or dont have enough power when literally no one is stopping them from making their own company and making more money. Power belongs to the person that takes it.

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#167

Post by par »

WalterBright wrote: post #56

It's easy for laid off tech workers to start their own companies. Lots of my friends and colleagues have over the years. The fun thing about starting your own company, is you find out how much you're really worth!

two words for you: health insurance

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#168

Post by thebradbain »

danuker wrote: post #85
luckydata wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wow it took only one comment to make the article right, and it's not only the elite, it's even the "little people" doing a lot of the hating.

Taking feedback is a sign of maturity and adaptability. Genuinely, what will happen with writers when scripts will be a dime a dozen, because people are going to use these new technologies? Thinking about these scenarios is the POINT of a union, making sure writers stay relevant for the long-term future. Failing to address them makes for a lot of broken dreams and missed opportunities.

Scripts are already a dime a dozen! The stereotype you see in tv shows of unemployed writers writing screenplays in coffee shops is because writers of those tv shows are making fun of themselves.

An experienced writer could (and does) make an entire first draft of a script for a tv show in less than a day. Before your first job out of college you likely have 10+ scripts for movies or shows written for a portfolio. 99% of scripts written already will never see the light of day— and that includes the ones that get bought!

Hollywood does have genuine shortcomings, but I can guarantee you one is not the lack of scripts, nor even the lack of good scripts.

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#169

Post by Haga »

Lionga wrote: post #136
habosa wrote: post #65

I think because individual tech workers are so highly paid relative to other industries, we fail to see how low our pay is relative to what the people at the top are making. A high performing Google engineer may make 500k+ in total comp, Sundar Pichai makes $100M+ in many years. That's 200x as much ... and the baseline is already super high. You see startup founders who exit with generational wealth (tens or hundreds…

It is that 95 to 99% of the ones that go the Musk, Bezos or Kalanicks way fail and be left with no payout. In return the ones succeeding will have 20 to 100 times the payout. Its almost the same as if you just take your salary and bet everything on 13 at the roulette. Small chance of huge payout, high chance of failure.

[dead]

Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor

#170

Post by MockObject »

goodpoint wrote: post #143
throwaway23597 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Bezos and Musks and Kalanicks of the world believe that this is correct. They truly think they do something in their 24 hours of daily human life that makes them hundreds or thousands of times more valuable than even the absolute best "labor" in their industry. I mean to play devil's advocate, these people have created organizations that employ hundreds of thousands of people in highly paid tech positions. Thes…

> These 500K Google jobs wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Larry Page / Sergey Brin Citation extremely needed. Do you think without some billionaires around everybody else would be sitting on their hands all day?

From my job to my marriage to my artwork, what couldn't conceivably be done by someone else, if I wasn't available?

Most of us are fungible.

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