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The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

seths.blog

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Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#41

Post by FredPret »

jeltz wrote: post #11
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6

> After a million dollars or so in salary, the absolute amount that a person is paid has no real impact on their life. They can't eat more meals in a day or wear more shoes There is more to life than food and shoes? This is one of the dumbest things I’ve read.

The point still stands. Beyond some amount the absolute amount of money really stops to matter

No it doesn't - what if you had a trillion dollars. You could spend the money on saving the penguins, or developing a Linux distribution that's just the way you like it, or clean up the ocean, or start a Manhattan project for breakthrough battery tech, or teach kids math in Africa, or convert a large number of people to your religion, or fund the arts, or fund an expedition to Mars, or any number of things.

Human needs are infinite. There will always, always be more good and worthwhile things to buy.

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#43

Post by jacobyoder »

humbleharbinger wrote: post #22

I've worked jobs where I'm paid 60-80k and where I'm paid 100k plus. I can tell you for sure I cared much less about the job where I wasn't getting paid as much. I would never answer an after work call or go out of my way to follow up organizational or systemic issues. For me working overtime is part of the package when I get paid loads more.

> For me working overtime is part of the package when I get paid loads more.

I've tended to think this way, but it's all relative. Plenty of people who've never had a $50k job will treat the $100k job as the baseline/minimum, and wouldn't ever think of going the extra mile like you do. For you (and me?) - yeah, you're paying "a lot", I'll make sure I do a bit extra/more when needed. But if you've never had less, that $100k is your bottom, and you might only consider doing 'extra' for a $200k job.

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#44

Post by [deleted] »

ipaddr wrote: post #12
j7ake wrote: post #7

Bigger salaries attracts more people, so you can have your pick of your favorite candidate. A bad scenario is the public school teacher path: they need better marketing and should be paid on par with the congressman, senators, and other highly paid politicians in government.

Would you end up with money seekers like failed politicians?

[deleted]

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#45

Post by n4r9 »

leesec wrote: post #17

Truly a mindless article. Money attracts talent, doesn't matter what the historical rates have been or what the absolute cost to live is. If a good person can get 50 million instead of 3 million they're going to take it.

For the record, not everyone is like this. And - one hopes - many of the most talented are not. I've pulled out of an interview process for a job paying 3-4x (with upwards potential) the job I took, because I saw more meaning and social value in the latter. The content of the job can be more important than the salary.

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#46

Post by paulpauper »

metaphor wrote: post #2

(2009)

Yeah, a lot has changed since then and his post does not age well. The post-2008 era of trillion-dollar tech companies and winner-take-all markets, like social media and apps, necessitates superlative talent to get products out to market fast to capture invaluable market share. The difference between being early or late can mean missing out on literally hundreds of billions of dollars of valuation. It is not irrational at all for huge tech or finance companies to pay top dollar for talent when the returns are so great and things are so competitive, too. Paying $500k/year or more is immaterial when you're talking trillions of dollars.

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#48

Post by ghaff »

FredPret wrote: post #27

What a tone-deaf article. - Salary is absolutely the key factor when people pick jobs. The difference between a fun hobby and a great job is that you get paid a lot to do the latter. - Here he's saying that companies should create a buzz around jobs; but having good feelings about your low-paid job doesn't help you nearly as much as just having lots of extra new wealth. - Saying that because high-end employees are fa…

>Salary is absolutely the key factor when people pick jobs.

Eh. It's a key factor. Once you get beyond a certain point, many people take lots of factors into account for jobs that are not otherwise basically interchangeable.

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#49

Post by avery17 »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #5
Traubenfuchs wrote: post #3

Name the other axes, Seth. What are they? What else is there but money? With sufficient money you can fill your positions instantly with top talent. Anyone pretending there are other answers is probably guilty of lowballing, wanting to lowball or the English translation of my name: a grape fox.

Career prospects are another axis I would say.

That's just money with extra steps.

Re: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing)

#50

Post by danbruc »

toast0 wrote: post #18

> After a million dollars or so in salary, the absolute amount that a person is paid has no real impact on their life. They can't eat more meals in a day or wear more shoes. What matters to the manager is the relative amount. Sure, nobody needs more than a million dollars in annual compensation (in 2024 dollars), but relative amount gets you to your never need to work again number faster or slower. You might still wo…

Consuming without working for it is immoral, flying privat jets and traveling more is bad for the environment. Those are not reasons in favor of higher salaries.
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