That's great for those with the moral flexibility to work on such a profoundly evil company, for the detriment of mankind.
It's clear that many people have a price at which they'd do things that they otherwise would not.
Facebook Median Pay now $240k
51–60 of 83 posts
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#52I've definitely felt the challenge of hiring in a startup as a result of these kinds of numbers. I'm curious what others think will come of this seeming bubble in compensation.
Its not a bubble. $240k is a reasonable salary for a professional with good grades from a good university working for a highly profitable private company. In fact as long as there is such a gap between revenue per employee, and compensation per employee, there will only be upward pressure on pay and conditions. In reality, software engineering salaries outside of established tech environments are kept artificially lo…
Its not a bubble.
I'm pretty sure it is and I'm quite looking forward to seeing it burst.
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#53I've been thinking a lot about the merits of the (highest income / median income) ratio in creating a society that is a little more resistant to eventual inequality. Rather than setting absolute tax brackets, what if we define tax brackets by this ratio? That way, it will be in the interest of the highest income earners to raise the median income.
Probably closest you can come to this in real world is Switzerland (maybe some nordic countries too). Very strong middle class (although there is no minimum wage codified in law), salaries disparities ie in IT vs normal people is much much smaller (meaning even a guy filling shelves in supermarket gets decent wage, if you get 3x his wage you are probably in top 1% earners). There is even a law enacted recently that h…
There is even a law enacted recently that highest earner in company (ie CEO) can't have salary more than 20x the lowest one (at least that's how I remember it).
There was a referendum to implement that cap (and at only 12x!) but it was rejected by voters.
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#54I've been thinking a lot about the merits of the (highest income / median income) ratio in creating a society that is a little more resistant to eventual inequality. Rather than setting absolute tax brackets, what if we define tax brackets by this ratio? That way, it will be in the interest of the highest income earners to raise the median income.
Probably closest you can come to this in real world is Switzerland (maybe some nordic countries too). Very strong middle class (although there is no minimum wage codified in law), salaries disparities ie in IT vs normal people is much much smaller (meaning even a guy filling shelves in supermarket gets decent wage, if you get 3x his wage you are probably in top 1% earners). There is even a law enacted recently that h…
> if only their mentality would be more 'transferable'
There's a reason why there is only one Scandinavia and it's so tiny population wise. It's strictly cultural, ingrained over hundreds or thousands of years, and can't be replicated across a massive population base. That it's cultural is also the reason why Scandinavians have historically done even better in the US than they do in Scandinavia (a system with superior economic potential, combined with a culture that produces superior outcomes).
The closest a large nation has gotten to what Scandinavia accomplished, is probably Japan. However Japan has never sustained a standard of living at the median anywhere near what Denmark or Sweden reached (the Japanese are also over-worked to accomplish their lower economic output, which is a bit of a cheat if you're contrasting it with the economic output of Scandinavia).
When it comes to Switzerland, you can't replicate what they've done because there isn't enough banking to go around. That isn't a dig on Switzerland, it's the same reason most countries could never replicate Norway (oil).
Switzerland has a dozen banks that together are worth around $200-$250 billion, with just a population of eight million people. That'd be like if the top dozen banks in the US were worth $8 trillion. The total Swiss banking system has something like $7 to $10 trillion in assets under management; which would be like the US banking system having ~$350 trillion under management, a laughable sum.
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#55Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#56That is only possible because of outsourcing. If you only employ the highest paid earners and use contractors for all support staff, you artificially inflate your median salary. I'd bet that FB has much lower salaries if you count anyone working full time for Facebook.
All the "Facebook" content screeners in Berlin, Germany, are actually employees of a contractor (Arvato-Bertelsmann) who is mostly hiring them through job agencies. They're in charge of deciding what has to be banned according to Facebook Community Guidelines. They get to see gore, suicide videos, racial slurs etc. all the time, with no proper psychological training. They earn minimum wage (around 10$ per hour) and t…
I’ve always been curious as to what “psychological training” would consist of to prepare for seeing such explicit content day in and day out. Perhaps something similar to military/war psychological practices?
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
All the "Facebook" content screeners in Berlin, Germany, are actually employees of a contractor (Arvato-Bertelsmann) who is mostly hiring them through job agencies. They're in charge of deciding what has to be banned according to Facebook Community Guidelines. They get to see gore, suicide videos, racial slurs etc. all the time, with no proper psychological training. They earn minimum wage (around 10$ per hour) and t…
I’ve always been curious as to what “psychological training” would consist of to prepare for seeing such explicit content day in and day out. Perhaps something similar to military/war psychological practices?
Even in the military there is no such thing as this type of training.
source: was infantry.
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#58That is only possible because of outsourcing. If you only employ the highest paid earners and use contractors for all support staff, you artificially inflate your median salary. I'd bet that FB has much lower salaries if you count anyone working full time for Facebook.
I'm sure most people reading HN scanning the title have SDE's come to mind immediately, without taking support staff into consideration, so the median is probably a good estimator for this audience, given your point.
Maybe it doesn't belong on the same table as a company like Wells Fargo since it's a different basis of comparison
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#59That is only possible because of outsourcing. If you only employ the highest paid earners and use contractors for all support staff, you artificially inflate your median salary. I'd bet that FB has much lower salaries if you count anyone working full time for Facebook.
All the "Facebook" content screeners in Berlin, Germany, are actually employees of a contractor (Arvato-Bertelsmann) who is mostly hiring them through job agencies. They're in charge of deciding what has to be banned according to Facebook Community Guidelines. They get to see gore, suicide videos, racial slurs etc. all the time, with no proper psychological training. They earn minimum wage (around 10$ per hour) and t…
Wow, racial slurs. I'm sure that can trigger some kind of trauma on them
Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds interesting but would probably be a paradise for tax lawyers. You just create a network of companies, one for each income band. That way, an employee never makes more than the average. Of course only large corperations can afford that so that smaller companies will have a harder time hiring talent.
In most jurisdictions a limit a limited company has to have a board and a CEO. You can outsource middle management- this is what McKinsey, Bain, BSG etc essentially do, but you can't legally outsource the guys at the very top.
You already have that at large companies, the CEO is also head of a lot of subsidiaries. You can then compensate at that company as it best fits and channel the main compensation through another company.