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Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

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Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#61

Post by malandrew »

awda wrote: post #23
diogenescynic wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may not know, but does the Dept. of Justice announcing they won't challenge state medical marijuana laws have any effect on pre-employment drug testing? Why or why not? Most employers seem to be moving away from it, in my experience.

Independent of state (medical or otherwise) marijuana laws, employers still drug test (even in WA, where personal pot use is legal, for example). Pot users aren't a protected class for discrimination purposes, afaik. I agree that it seems silly. Things are a bit different in the software world, where employers are moving away from drug testing because they need all the talent they can get. It turns out some potheads…

I read somewhere that among Silicon Valley engineers, the usage rate is like 40% or so. If that is true, then when almost 1 in 2 engineers smokes, you can't afford to discriminate.

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#62

Post by mikeash »

felipe wrote: post #58
mikeash wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the others, in fact, just as bad? If so, I've not heard of it. Sure, there are certain routine abuses that are rampant everywhere, but Wal-Mart takes it to a uniquely high level from what I know. I could be wrong, of course, but that's what I know.

> Are the others, in fact, just as bad? Well, just one example that came to my mind from a documentary I watched recently: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/viewfinder/asia/2013/07/...

It's nearly impossible to link a single case of cancer to a particular cause, since the whole process is deeply probabilistic. Absent evidence of routine abuses at this factory and a significant increase in cancer incidence among workers, it doesn't really work.

A knee injury, on the other hand, is trivial to link to the on-the-job accident that caused it in many cases.

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#63

Post by mikeash »

tzs wrote: post #59
liamondrop wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is to privacy as Wal-Mart is to small retail business.

Has it actually been proven that Wal-Mart is detrimental to small retail business? I know, it seems obvious on the face of it. Wal-Mart comes to Mayberry, and Walker's Drug Store and Foley's Grocery and Weaver's Department Store can't compete and go out of business. ...except weren't those already nailed before Wal-Mart got there by Walgreen's and Safeway and JC Penny? I suspect that when a place is big enough to sup…

Wal-Mart is able to survive and thrive in environments where other chains can't. They can be the first, not the last, big national retail chain to move in.

The town where I went to high school got one. Before they showed up, there were no other big chains of anything in that sort of business. The closest were some of the standard big chain fast food joints and gas stations. Walgreens, Safeway, JC Penney, none of them existed there.

I left before the Wal-Mart came so I didn't really see how things changed with it. I have no idea if it was good or bad for small businesses (of which there wasn't much to destroy anyway) or the town as a whole. I'm just addressing the idea that Wal-Mart would somehow be a latecomer.

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#64

Post by felipe »

encoderer wrote: post #55
felipe wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot to subtract the amount you "paid" for the RSUs by not making an optimal salary.

Interesting comment. Can't say I agree with it. There are a lot of benefits to having an equity grant as part of a total comp package for highly paid employees like software engineers and management. Even more so if you're fortunate enough to get non-qual options and not RSU's. Among other things, if that employee had insisted on no equity all salary, he'd have POSSIBLY gotten that extra $25k a year. The guy next to…

I also get RSUs as part of my compensation package (as any other tech company offers, by the way). The difference is that I am not getting a pay-cut for receiving RSUs. In other words, I am not making less for having the "opportunity" to maybe hit the lucky jar in the future.

> And sure, share price can go down but if you don't believe a company is going to continue building wealth, why work there?

My point is simply that IMO FB employees are not being fairly compensated for the amount of risk they are taking. If my future employer is asking me to accept a salary pay-cut in exchange of RSUs, my upside needs to be more than that. If we are talking about a revolutionary company, then sure, I'd agree with you, but Facebook?

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#65

Post by redblacktree »

mikeash wrote: post #37
vowelless wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate why?

They severely mistreat their employees when it comes to on-the-job injuries. Friend of mine injured his knee while working in one of their warehouses. A perverse company policy gives bonuses if the crew is injury-free for a certain amount of time. This is supposed to improve safety, but what it does is cause management to put intense pressure on workers not to see a doctor when injured, because if they don't see a do…

There is also their aggressive anti-union tactics. They have a anti-union response team that flies in on a corporate jet to deal with any stores that are threatening to organize.

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#67

Post by awda »

malandrew wrote: post #61
awda wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Independent of state (medical or otherwise) marijuana laws, employers still drug test (even in WA, where personal pot use is legal, for example). Pot users aren't a protected class for discrimination purposes, afaik. I agree that it seems silly. Things are a bit different in the software world, where employers are moving away from drug testing because they need all the talent they can get. It turns out some potheads…

I read somewhere that among Silicon Valley engineers, the usage rate is like 40% or so. If that is true, then when almost 1 in 2 engineers smokes, you can't afford to discriminate.

Yep. Among the US population as a whole, lifetime illicit drug use is something like 50%. So I wouldn't be too surprised if it was that high among SV engineers.

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#68

Post by BigChiefSmokem »

logicallee wrote: post #22
BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #5

I asked the recruiter multiple times if what Fox (the movie studio) was offering was legit. They offered me $20,000 more than Microsoft.

which is a huge difference. you can hire half-time maid/cook with that. Did you take it?

Sure did. It's sort of bittersweet because I really wanted to work for Microsoft since I was a kid but to me my salary is part of my worth and I don't want to undermine the value of my career by taking a lower pay. I don't think the work is as challenging as it would have been at a tech giant (I'm pretty much a glorified UI/front-end web developer) but I do get to work alongside the Hollywood crowd which IMO is as exciting as working at a "cool" Silicon Valley gig. Also, I don't think startups pay much anyhow, especially in LA (I've had to laugh off some offers from the Santa Monica startups, sorry but $80k for a Senior Engineer is just ludicrous) - those jobs are better suited for the college grads. Anyways, the above average pay in my case has to do with the fact that the studio makes a ton of money and are willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to talent (IT or otherwise), and that the area we work at has a very high cost of living.

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#69

Post by lquist »

saraid216 wrote: post #26
lquist wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entry level (i.e., junior dev) salaries at Walmart Labs are $100k. This is based off of multiple data points.

> multiple Approximate number? Are we talking 2, 20, 200?

2

Re: Software engineers tell Glassdoor that Walmart pays more than Facebook

#70

Post by saraid216 »

bpodgursky wrote: post #30
mikeash wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also remember that they are evil. I don't toss this around lightly, but Wal-Mart is one of the very few companies (I actually can't think of any others right now) that I absolutely will not do business with no matter what.

I don't toss this around lightly, but Wal-Mart is one of the very few companies I absolutely always do business with because it is cheap, reliable, and I hate going to multiple stores on a single shopping trip.

This is a good example of why libertarians are evil.
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