Judge rejects $324.5M settlement over Apple, Google hiring

I think that's pretty unlikely. The tech industry has done a poor job of endearing itself to the rest of the economy over the past few years. My non-tech friends have been through the struggle of finding jobs in general throughout the recession. Few of them are going to shed a tear for engineers making less than fair market wages who already pull down six figures in their early twenties.

Someone I know in SF posted a picture today of their new Audi with a caption about how they were finally a real adult now that they owned one. I think that's pretty disconnected from reality, and sadly I think it is somewhat typical of the mindset that a lot of engineers have in this industry.

"The ruling by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, said the proposed settlement amount "falls below the range of reasonableness," before dashing back to her new two million dollar home to pack for her European vacation.

Agreed. Even 3 decimal places wouldn't do justice to what they have done to us. Fuck those greedy bastards. If we were smart we would unionize ... err, sorry, I mean form a professional association to represent our interests. Like doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.

In NorCal that's like, what, 2BR/2BA a mile away from any public transit?

I deleted the comment you've replied to because of the rapid downvotes... but screw it... I'm putting it back here. Who needs karma anyway...

To the rest of the public, we probably look like complaining oil or Walmart execs. While the rest of the general public is dealing with insane commutes and thankless/soul-crushing jobs, we got things like "The Social Network" movie, San Francisco gentrification issues, fancy catered parties and Google Glass. I can't even explain this to the rest of my family. They're like "Why are the people in your field complaining? Aren't they partying like it's 1999?" And seriously, my life is basically a dream compared to the rest of my family and past classmates not in tech. I make more money than I ever thought possible, I have no commute because BART is so close, I can WorkFromHome just about anytime I want, I work in San Franciso with lost of food options and my job is something I'd be doing on my free time anyway. I have the flexibility to be at my standing-desk on HN debating with people online while drinking my fancy glass bottle VOSS water from Norway. And the icing on the cake is probably the minimum 2 recruiter LinkedIn emails I get a week offering even more money. Also, I never negotiate salary. I just take the first offer so I assume I'm in the lower-range compared to most of HN.

Seriously, go try and explain this to the average lower/middle-class American outside of tech. This must look ridiculous. I'm right in the heart of this tech scene and I'm not even convinced we should be complaining.