Why Don't Tech Companies Pay Their Engineers to Stay?

Post by ttyprintk » Fri, Sep 06, 2024, 9:30 AM UTC

siliconc0w wrote: post #15

The people running companies are mostly "professional managers" who see engineers as a fungible resource. If anything, tenure in the same role is mostly a negative signal. Why haven't you gamed the promotion system yet? Don't you want to grow into management or 'technical leadership' and spend your days in meetings? What is wrong with you?

Post by rwmj » Fri, Sep 06, 2024, 9:42 AM UTC

Sebb767 wrote: post #177

mppm wrote: post #172

It's always puzzled me why many tech companies seem so reluctant to give counter-offers to departing employees. Trying to pay as little as possible and not easily giving raises, even to their most productive employees, is at least somewhat understandable. But if a valuable employee is about to leave, possibly taking some critical knowledge with them, you'd think that a 50% raise should be on the table out of pure sel…

I think a lot of your points play a role, but a major one is that when the employee is handing in his resignation, it's likely they have mentally already closed that chapter in their life and won't remain happy or productive. At best they leave soon anyway, at worst you're now paying a premium for worse work.

Post by ttyprintk » Fri, Sep 06, 2024, 10:06 AM UTC

basch wrote: post #130

lainga wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What prevents engineering firms from acting like law firms?

In theory, this would become some type of exploitable game theory. Send out offer letters to companies most indispensable people, just to jack up your competitors labor costs. Arms race. Eventual mutually assured destruction.

Post by alecco » Fri, Sep 06, 2024, 10:12 AM UTC

Corrado wrote: post #196

red_admiral wrote: post #148

As a regular reader of Rachelbythebay - I agree with the sentiment of a lot of other posters here, it's not the money that makes people quit. A classic story here is the "Sodas are no longer free" one: https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear... The total cost of free sodas for engineers is probably small compared to their salaries, and for the individual engineer, the new $0.50 per soda cost is p…

Holy carp! When they took away the free soda at KFC I started updating my resume. I worked at the KFC headquarters for over 10 years and for most of that time they had free soda in the lobby. Then the cafeteria management got turned over to a 3rd party, I'm guessing as a way to save money. Setting aside a food company not managing their corporate cafeteria, this 3rd party wanted to sell sodas and that's really hard w…

Post by klooney » Fri, Sep 06, 2024, 10:24 AM UTC

rapjr9 wrote: post #210

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" Here’s hoping you’re lucky enough to live until then. "? The median lifespan is over 80 and developers are paid above the median, often by quite a bit. It's far, far more likely in your 50s that you'll be staring down the barrel of a layoff + industry downturn and cursing yourself for the money spent on your trip across Europe and other frivolities in your 30s.

The median lifespan is no longer over 80, at least not for middle age males in the US, though it is for females: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html It also depends a lot on what your current age is. If you're 60 or older it's 80 or more. If you're younger than that and male it's under 80, going down the younger you are. Covid and other things reduced life expectancy in the US. This is the 2021 table, the mo…