I wonder: could the recruiters that were fired sue based on wrongful termination?
How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
281–290 of 488 posts
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you from SV? There are plenty of affordable places to live in SV. Just because everyone is talking about how SF is sooo expensive, does not mean you can't live in Berkeley/Oakland/East Palo Alto/other areas.
SV != SF. East Bay -> SF, especially near BART is easy enough. East Bay -> SV is ... may as well be Portland ... Maine.
I do it every day.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you from SV? There are plenty of affordable places to live in SV. Just because everyone is talking about how SF is sooo expensive, does not mean you can't live in Berkeley/Oakland/East Palo Alto/other areas.
I'm from Santa Clara, and "affordable" is an extremely relative notion. Silicon Valley itself isn't much cheaper than San Francisco. Berkeley, Oakland and East Palo Alto are not in Silicon Valley. And frankly, they're not as cheap now as they were even 18 months ago. It's still possible to get a one-bedroom apartment for $1000 a month if you look around hard enough, but it's almost certainly going to be small and old…
I'm a student in the Deep South, and getting out to the Bay Area is a dream of mine. Here's to hoping the price comes down in the next couple of years.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tech engineers get pushed around by upper management and have failed to professionalize like doctors because too many of them lack social and political savvy. It's a clear personality trait in the profession. Look at the way so many programmers choose to dress and groom. Can you imagine a top lawyer looking like that? The importance of projecting a serious professional image to the broader society doesn't seem to eve…
Exactly, but it's worse. There are programmers who love calling themselves "geeks", "nerds", "code monkeys" and promote boot camp style schools as well as myths such as "anybody can code" such that people think any homeless person off the street is a coder. You don't get doctors and lawyers talking down their own skills or saying it's easy.
The problem is the opposite is just as bad, if not worse: programmers can't go around saying "I make tons of money because I have a rare skill/high IQ", because that sounds elitist (which is a very bad word these days). If programmers advertise themselves as a caste that you can only get into by luck/genetics, that only makes things worse.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The H1B issue is absolutely about providing cheap, endentured labour: visa holders are tied to their sponsoring employer and must appeal to be allowed to seek other employment This is plain wrong. You can very easily shift and people do shift. You just interview with a different company, just like a citizen would.
On the E3 visa - and AFAIK the H1B - you can't be out of work for more than 10 days. If you're not confident you can find a similar salary (and have an approved LCA) within that time then that makes the idea of rocking the boat a little more scary.
I'm not keen to defend the ridiculous immigration system, but it's possible to avoid this risk in the following way:
You can interview at, accept an offer from, apply for and receive a new LCA for another company all while continuing to work at your existing job. This means you have a new job and (preparatory documents for a new) visa set up before even giving notice and triggering the 10 day period. I know this from personal experience (on the E3).
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look at a typical software developer salary in SF vs a typical software developer salary in Chicago, adjust for cost of living, the difference between SF salary and adjusted Chicago salary is the depression For example, demand in SF is much higher than Chicago so SF salary should be >> Chicago * cost of living adjustment. My guess is it's lower
I looked at this calculation for Minneapolis versus SF a while back, and salaries were definitely lower in SF than Minneapolis * cost of living.
I've done this same calculation and I found the opposite. And after I moved I realized that you have to also factor in how much more awesome the Bay Area is. I've been able to be outside most days this winter hiking and doing other outdoor activities. I can't imagine going back to winters where I'm trapped indoors.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you from SV? There are plenty of affordable places to live in SV. Just because everyone is talking about how SF is sooo expensive, does not mean you can't live in Berkeley/Oakland/East Palo Alto/other areas.
I'm from Santa Clara, and "affordable" is an extremely relative notion. Silicon Valley itself isn't much cheaper than San Francisco. Berkeley, Oakland and East Palo Alto are not in Silicon Valley. And frankly, they're not as cheap now as they were even 18 months ago. It's still possible to get a one-bedroom apartment for $1000 a month if you look around hard enough, but it's almost certainly going to be small and old…
East Palo Alto isn't in Silicon Valley? It's close enough to the Google campus to bike from.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#288Amazing how just a day ago, the media is carrying stories about wealthy techies hurting poor people, driving up prices, living in lavish palaces, and enjoying huge unfair perks like free shuttles to the office. Now the story is, they should have had even more money.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#289Ah yes, "Don't be evil": illegally colluding to line your own pockets at the expense of your employees is clearly perfectly acceptable behaviour as far as Google execs are concerned however.
Makes you wonder in what other ways Google has "not been evil" doesn't it.
Re: How Silicon Valley CEOs conspired to drive down tech engineer wages
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
What happened to the news in the past year or so about the large glut of lawyers in America, having to work for relative peanuts because of supply outpacing demand? Has the valley somehow managed to keep them out? Or is it that specialized lawyers can make $350+/hr? In which case developers with certain specialities can make that much as well.
You can hire a bar-admitted lawyer for $20/hour, yet some firms bill first year associates at almost $400/hour. The corporate service professions (law, finance, accounting, and consulting) have a self-regulating labor supply. A professional without hands on experience is not valuable to corporate clients, and hands on experience can only be acquired in the context of real litigation/deals/audits/etc. If demand grows,…
Why don't we see more firms created?