Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Median Pay now $240k

sfgate.com

71–80 of 83 posts

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#71
post #6

I'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.

> I'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.

That metric is very sensitive to outliers. If you have even one individual with enormous income, that ratio will be enormous. Now you might say "that's precisely the point", but I would argue that having how we design a society hinge on what one individual earns, is not statistically sound.

A more appropriate metric along the same line of thought would be something like top 10-percent excluding outliers divided by median income, where "excluding outliers" could be calculated in an admitedly somewhat arbitrary, but common way like e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interquartile_range#Outliers.

Or just use something that already exists instead of re-inventing the wheel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_index

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#72
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not a bubble. I'm pretty sure it is and I'm quite looking forward to seeing it burst.

When I attended Facebook university day, 100% of the students I spoke with were from top schools. The majority I spoke with were from Ivy League Universities, of the non Ivy League students, one was from MIT, two from UMD, one from UCLA, and one from UT Austin. This is not a bubble, this is them hiring the best. I have been in class with students who chose to enter software engineering at major companies rather than…

Although that notion of "the best" has been deeply challenged by slack, e.g. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/how-s...

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#73
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the industry as a whole doesn't have these margins or salaries; only the top dogs do.

If you live in a first world country, try to find out what your mid-tier technology consultancies (Accenture, Deloitte, CGI, etc) are charging customers. It is almost certainly around 250-350k per year, even if they are working for an unglamorous, boring, traditional customer. The real issue is that outside of leading tech environments, too much rent is being extracted from the wages of software engineers.

Great point, although said rent is being driven largely by FB and GOOG. I remember the first time I was outbid for a flat in 2016 when a small group of googlers paid cash for the entire first year of rent. I should have moved to Seattle that afternoon :)

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#74
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I attended Facebook university day, 100% of the students I spoke with were from top schools. The majority I spoke with were from Ivy League Universities, of the non Ivy League students, one was from MIT, two from UMD, one from UCLA, and one from UT Austin. This is not a bubble, this is them hiring the best. I have been in class with students who chose to enter software engineering at major companies rather than…

Although that notion of "the best" has been deeply challenged by slack, e.g. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/how-s...

I could never get an interview at Slack, but they are not hiring the best. Their compensation is far too low.

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#75
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pre-2008 not all banks were hugely profitable. Some investment banks were and some smaller companies. The tech sector isn't that dissimilar. Salaries in SV show that not only Google and Facebook are willing to pay $200k+ for engineers, most of the industry will (and usually can). As tech can't print money, these salaries must come from somewhere. And at some point those sources won't be able or willing to provide it.…

Salaries in SV show that (...) most of the industry will (and usually can). Yeah, that's what I doubt. SV is not the tech industry as a whole. The average salary for a software developer in the US is less than half than that, and if we removed those top outliers, it'll be even less. So I'm skeptical that this is out of the ordinary; doesn't seem that different from other well-paid white-collar professions like lawyer…

And, even in SV, most of the industry cannot; certainly the AirBnB/uber/lyft's of the world can, but the smaller companies seem to be falling behind (based on anecdotal conversations at least).

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#76

I'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.

It's not a bubble by any stretch of the imagination. Facebook pays a lot because they have to pay a lot to get quality people to want to work at Facebook. Compare this against companies like SpaceX where the median compensation is quite awful for the industry made even worse by the area (compensation is well below $90k in most cases). This poor compensation is made even more peculiar at a glance by the incredibly hig…

I admire the Netflix philosophy- ruthlessly capitalistic.

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#77
post #46

I'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…

> tech environments are kept artificially low because there is no "guild of software engineers"

I think you would have a hard case saying Guilds and Unions are natural variations of prices.

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#78
post #46

I'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…

> "guild of software engineers"

Sorry, I'm not familiar with what is meant by this. Can you elaborate?

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#79
Do you need hackers for hire? Do you need to keep an eye on your spouse by gaining access to their emails? As a parent do you want to know what your kids do on a daily basis on social networks ( This includes facebook, twitter , instagram, whatsapp, WeChat and others to make sure they're not getting into trouble? Whatever it is, Ranging from Bank Jobs, Flipping cash, Criminal records ,mugshots removal, DMV, Taxes, Name it,and we will get the job done. Contact cyberservices147@gmail.com for more information!

Re: Facebook Median Pay now $240k

#80
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> "guild of software engineers" Sorry, I'm not familiar with what is meant by this. Can you elaborate?

I wrote about this a while ago: https://hackernoon.com/why-isnt-software-engineering-a-profe...
Post reply on HN