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Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

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Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#761

Post by coldcode »

tqi wrote: post #569
coldcode wrote: post #132

Rather than look for another job I retired at 63.5. My job was long hours, high stress, high visibility, continuous deadlines and changes that never ended at a large non FAANG company. Compensation was OK (not FAANG but OK for where I am). Everything I or my team shipped worked great; but lots of things with these challenges never shipped for political/idiotic reasons. So much budget was wasted on Exec whims and fant…

> but lots of things with these challenges never shipped for political/idiotic reasons. So much budget was wasted on Exec whims and fantasy. Curious - was this a new(ish) phenomenon, or was this something that you experienced throughout your career and decided it wasn't worth it anymore?

Our 40 years you see everything. This last employer was known for this sort of thing, yet still successful despite their best efforts to mess everything up.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#763

Post by jjav »

oblio wrote: post #759
jjav wrote: post #704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I am in Silicon Valley so that biases the numbers towards the higher end of the ranges. But I took a ~200K pay cut from my previous job to my current one because I went from a successful public company (not FAANG but similar pay) to a startup. Startups are a gamble for sure, maybe it's not worth anything. But the base salary is still good enough to pay all my bills, so that's good enough. I try to maximiz…

> But I took a ~200K pay cut from my previous job to my current one I'm willing to bet that if ~90% of posters on HN would take a ~200k pay cut they'd have to pay their employer money. You're most likely living in an entirely different world to regular folks.

It's an interesting topic, I always wonder where reality is. An argument for more transparent comp info.

When HN has comp discussions, everyone points out that approximately everyone with any experience is making way more than 500K with levels.fyi offered as the evidence. I've sometimes expressed some doubt about those numbers but I'm always labeled as uninformed. Ok so I guess everyone truly is making more than 500K.

Startups don't pay very well, so if > 500K is the norm for FAANG-level, then certainly 100K or 200K or 300K++ pay cut is the norm as well for going into a startup?

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#764

Post by marcyb5st »

robbmcm wrote: post #750
marcyb5st wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I relate so much to this. Currently working at Google and I'd like to work on something that I care about. However, I still am in my early 30s and I don't think I have enough saved to do that yet even considering that GOOG went almost 6x since I was hired.

This thinking is a profound illusion I fell into. You might be surprised how far that money goes. And you also have the skills for more money to come in easily. You also probably spend way more than you need to survive. Particularly if you don't have a family. You get one life. Take the leap.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I definitely have some thinking to do about it and you're right! Eventually I will have to take leap.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#765

Post by oblio »

jjav wrote: post #763
oblio wrote: post #759

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I took a ~200K pay cut from my previous job to my current one I'm willing to bet that if ~90% of posters on HN would take a ~200k pay cut they'd have to pay their employer money. You're most likely living in an entirely different world to regular folks.

It's an interesting topic, I always wonder where reality is. An argument for more transparent comp info. When HN has comp discussions, everyone points out that approximately everyone with any experience is making way more than 500K with levels.fyi offered as the evidence. I've sometimes expressed some doubt about those numbers but I'm always labeled as uninformed. Ok so I guess everyone truly is making more than 500K…

FAANGs are at best half a million to 1 million people and there are at least 35 million developers out there, in total.

Even FAANGs don't pay that well except for maybe 10-20 select locations.

My point is that most devs worldwide, even with experience, make less than $200k in total. More like less than $100k.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#766

Post by phkahler »

sangnoir wrote: post #318
phkahler wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Why would you pay off your house when you can keep the cash in an investment... I asked someone that in my mid 20's. He said "It's nice knowing I can support my family working at McDonalds if I have to." That stuck with me. Something fundamental changes in your life when you become debt-free.

> Something fundamental changes in your life when you become debt-free. Being able to pay off a debt at anytime is equally freeing, for me at least. Paying off a loan with an interest rate significantly below inflation is not a great use of money[1] (and an opportunity loss). Putting that lumpsum into bonds ( any bond with interest higher than the loan) is better, or even investing in stocks with a stop-loss. If I lo…

>> Being able to pay off a debt at anytime is equally freeing,

Let me remind you that in 2008 things were so screwed up, some lenders lost track of who owed what. Having a hard copy document that shows a debt was close out is not the same as having assets that could pay off the loan. Keep in mind too that it was also not a good time to trade investments for cash.

There are risks in every approach. I can't imagine taking out a loan on a property today and investing the money thinking it will beat the interest payments over the next couple years. At other times, it's less risky but the rates will probably also be higher at those times.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#767

Post by robertlagrant »

alex_sf wrote: post #549
robertlagrant wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People like secret words that show they're in a certain group. It's called PLSWTSTIACG.

Oooh what's that? Tell me

People like secret words that show they're in a certain group.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#768

Post by mwigdahl »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #60
btown wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://randsinrepose.com/archives/shields-down/ is a classic article (and an incredibly important read for anyone in engineering management) that essentially argues that these two questions are fundamentally equivalent.

I would argue that the best world for employees is one in which their shields are always down.

It's sure the best world for recruiters.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#770

Post by citizenpaul »

_ah wrote: post #343
citizenpaul wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20-30% ?? What kind of money are you assuming most people make. at anything over 100k a year that is a lot of extra money anything less and it is probably needed. It could simply be used to retire a few years earlier if nothing else. It could pay for vacation. It could pay off a vehicle. It could pay down a mortgage or appraisal gap in this market. A 20% raise is huge at any income level.

Except that it isn't. Assume you are a superstar of some persuasion and you earn $100M/yr. Is a 20% raise a lot of money? It's not! Sure, it's an extra twenty million dollars , but what could you possibly want to buy with that money that you can't already purchase? At some point $100k --> $100M the math changes. That point will be different for different people.

You and other people are discussing amounts of money that you could simply walk away from the world buy a yacht and travel the world for your entire life. This adds nothing to the discussion.
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