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Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

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Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#91

Post by mikhael28 »

giantg2 wrote: post #83
seattle_spring wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only people I’ve seen who have major troubles are people who don’t actually like to program, or who have very staunch/stagnant attitudes. Do you fit into either of those buckets by chance?

"who don’t actually like to program, or who have very staunch/stagnant attitudes." Were those in the comment? Seems these would be more than just enjoying learning and growing. I might be getting there now. That wasn't the case in the past. Office politics and poor management ruined me early in my career. I'm just a burnt out low performer now. I have seen many others who also fall into the category of enjoying learn…

Take a sabbatical dawg. Or save up to take one. Being burnt out is no way to live, and is blinding you to your potential. You appear to have little to no professional confidence.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#92

Post by 908B64B197 »

giantg2 wrote: post #84
evilduck wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok? You can play the victim all you want but entry into tech is by every measure easier than comparably compensated career fields.

And that's not what's being discussed here. What we are discusing is the distorted view in the original comment. The original comment was comparing the top earners of one field to the median earners for another. It would be better to compare the medians. For example median dev salary is about $110k. Median physician salary is about $205k. So no, these are not comparably paying jobs. And one does not "easily" earn mor…

> For example median dev salary is about $110k. Median physician salary is about $205k.

That's an interesting point, but what to the distributions look like? For devs there's evidence it might be bimodal [0].

[0] http://danluu.com/bimodal-compensation/

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#93

Post by 908B64B197 »

giantg2 wrote: post #80
bradlys wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is a very Silicon Valley focused website. $150k in SV isn’t very much at all. You get more than that even at startups as a senior engineer. New grads at FAANG will get at least that or more.

Isn't $150k the standard number for the common top end grade? They make adjustments based on location for COL. So it could be more there. Even so, the majority of developers live outside of SV where even the $150k number is attractive (given the national dev median is around $110k).

> Isn't $150k the standard number for the common top end grade? They make adjustments based on location for COL.

COL adjustments are HR policy, not laws.

SV caliber talent typically don't get those, wherever they end up working from.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#94

Post by giantg2 »

evilduck wrote: post #89
giantg2 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's not what's being discussed here. What we are discusing is the distorted view in the original comment. The original comment was comparing the top earners of one field to the median earners for another. It would be better to compare the medians. For example median dev salary is about $110k. Median physician salary is about $205k. So no, these are not comparably paying jobs. And one does not "easily" earn mor…

I have an employee right now with Bachelor of Art in Music whose career in music fizzled out making $190k today in software outside of SV. That's it. That's his software credentials. A physician lost far more money in life getting their degree and spends about that gap in pay in malpractice insurance and professional attire required to work in a hospital, and generally works more hours at a higher stress level. Your…

That's one example. Look at the medians. I mean, this is HN not Reddit. We should be looking at the data.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#95

Post by iaseiadit »

sage76 wrote: post #42
JCM9 wrote: post #17

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps who worked their way up to senior roles in big tech that make multiples more than most physicians I know or others that had to go down a rigid path to get to…

> Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career Everyone I know who is older and already in the industry, is having a bad time trying to change jobs.

I work for a FAANG, and I don’t know of a single IC here that was hired in their 40s or older. Almost everyone we’ve hired is in their 20s, with a handful in their early 30s. As a 40+ IC, I’m praying I don’t get laid off because it looks rough for older workers.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#96

Post by KKKKkkkk1 »

JCM9 wrote: post #17

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps who worked their way up to senior roles in big tech that make multiples more than most physicians I know or others that had to go down a rigid path to get to…

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way.

That's not likely to be possible anymore. Microsoft's net income went 9x in the last two decades. Apple's 475x. I don't think this kind of growth is going to continue.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#97

Post by giantg2 »

908B64B197 wrote: post #92
giantg2 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's not what's being discussed here. What we are discusing is the distorted view in the original comment. The original comment was comparing the top earners of one field to the median earners for another. It would be better to compare the medians. For example median dev salary is about $110k. Median physician salary is about $205k. So no, these are not comparably paying jobs. And one does not "easily" earn mor…

> For example median dev salary is about $110k. Median physician salary is about $205k. That's an interesting point, but what to the distributions look like? For devs there's evidence it might be bimodal [0]. [0] http://danluu.com/bimodal-compensation/

It would be interesting to see what that looks like adjusted for location/COL. It's possible the comp due to cost of living with a high concentration of devs in one area might be enough to influence this. Until we understand that and compare it to the distribution for physicians, it would be hard to draw any conclusions from it.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#98

Post by giantg2 »

evilduck wrote: post #88
giantg2 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real estate exam is way easier than any IT interview. The MLS is a minor fee for access to the listing service. Tech has tons of regulatory requirements, some segments more than others. Most of the requirements for real estate are in the standard template already. Anything more difficult, and an agent will refer you to see a real estate attorney (much higher barrier to entry). An easy way to look at this is how m…

But those are all hurdles you must jump even if the skill required to do so is low. My dog groomer can fiddle with writing Excel formulas and then decide that tomorrow she wants to apply for an entry level software role, write a convincing resume and bullshit the right mix of interviewers well enough and literally nothing would stop her from making it through the application process or beginning an entry level job an…

"field of meritocracy"

Meritocracies don't exist, only the illusion for those that benefit.

Yes, it seems you're using the lowest theoretical barriers. That's fine. I'm talking about the common practical barriers. Of course our conclusions will differs.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#99

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #96
JCM9 wrote: post #17

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps who worked their way up to senior roles in big tech that make multiples more than most physicians I know or others that had to go down a rigid path to get to…

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. That's not likely to be possible anymore. Microsoft's net income went 9x in the last two decades. Apple's 475x. I don't think this kind of growth is going to continue.

Just because the outsized equity awards are likely a thing of the past doesn't discount anything from the sentence you quoted.

I've seen it time and time again, what the tech industry really craves is very detail oriented people who can communicate and who are proactive (i.e., if they see that something has fallen on the floor, they pick it up, they don't just assume someone else will). That said, as easy as it is to conceptualize those qualities, they are quite rare in my experience. Can't say how, as a software engineer, it's been extremely disappointing to see so many product managers who don't seem to understand that having a detailed knowledge of their product at the lowest levels is a requirement for the job.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#100

Post by giantg2 »

aio2 wrote: post #90
evilduck wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an employee right now with Bachelor of Art in Music whose career in music fizzled out making $190k today in software outside of SV. That's it. That's his software credentials. A physician lost far more money in life getting their degree and spends about that gap in pay in malpractice insurance and professional attire required to work in a hospital, and generally works more hours at a higher stress level. Your…

Yall need to calm your asses. It's just a comparison to other job

It's more than that. It's the continuation of a distorted view of reality in which the world is a meritocracy and everyone can be rich if they just try hard enough. That's there's nothing stopping anyone from taking a job that doesn't require years of training and making 2x+ the median for that role and using just an anecdote to back it up. This type of stuff is detrimental to the choices and mental health of the next generation - expecting things that don't exist and then being crushed by reality.
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