4 ms·

Low wages are one of the biggest reasons (if not THE reason) we're in so much trouble in this country to begin with.

darkr 11y ago
Yeah, but I don't think the wages paid to developers in SV (or pretty much anywhere in the western world) would be classed as 'low'.
e40 11y ago
We're talking about premium developers here. People making $150K/yr or more. I literally had people stolen by Google that were offered more than $250K/yr. You are talking about something completely different than the rest of us.
- lmm 11y ago
  Google aren't paying those salaries out of dumb VC money. They're paying them because developers can generate that much value for them.
  - vadym909 11y ago
    Not really- but Google probably thinks they might be able to. Applying it's monopoly power, Google can easily charge more for its services if required. If it's moonshot projects fail to generate returns or its monopoly is threatened, then it may have to resort to Microsoft style 10,000 layoffs to readjust. Till then they can outspend you and anyone else to get what they want. We are in the Developer's market- in time we will be in Employer's market. Cycle of Life.
- nradov 11y ago
  You did not have people literally "stolen by Google". People don't belong to you.
  - e40 11y ago
    I think you know what I meant. I don't, literally, think they belonged to me.
- jcadam 11y ago
  $250K would be about my minimum to coax me into moving to SV. Maybe (probably) more, I haven't done the math lately. Hell, I'd probably still keep a better lifestyle staying put here in Florida where I make about half of that (and I'm considered highly paid around here). I would never expect SV pay for a 100% remote job that allowed to me to stay in my lowish COL beach town, and I don't know who would. That doesn't even make any sense.
- ashwinaj 11y ago
  250k total compensation or base? I can only imagine a good senior developer (10-15 years) getting paid 250k base.
- hamburglar 11y ago
  I'm in Seattle, and $125k (which you mentioned elsewhere) is definitely on the thrifty end of the spectrum these days around here, and I'd expect that to be really low for SV. You might be able to pull it off if your company is extremely cool or if you're offering crazy equity (which a profitable, conservatively managed company most certainly is not doing), but even up here, the big boys are easily hitting $300k total comp for senior developers. I can't imagine expectations are any lower in SV. Obviously, this just underscores your point, but I wanted to give you some datapoints since you seemed surprised that someone might not take the $125k offer. It's a seller's market.

darkr 11y ago

Yeah, but I don't think the wages paid to developers in SV (or pretty much anywhere in the western world) would be classed as 'low'.

e40 11y ago

We're talking about premium developers here. People making $150K/yr or more. I literally had people stolen by Google that were offered more than $250K/yr. You are talking about something completely different than the rest of us.

lmm 11y ago
Google aren't paying those salaries out of dumb VC money. They're paying them because developers can generate that much value for them.
- vadym909 11y ago
  Not really- but Google probably thinks they might be able to. Applying it's monopoly power, Google can easily charge more for its services if required. If it's moonshot projects fail to generate returns or its monopoly is threatened, then it may have to resort to Microsoft style 10,000 layoffs to readjust. Till then they can outspend you and anyone else to get what they want. We are in the Developer's market- in time we will be in Employer's market. Cycle of Life.
nradov 11y ago
You did not have people literally "stolen by Google". People don't belong to you.
- e40 11y ago
  I think you know what I meant. I don't, literally, think they belonged to me.
jcadam 11y ago
$250K would be about my minimum to coax me into moving to SV. Maybe (probably) more, I haven't done the math lately. Hell, I'd probably still keep a better lifestyle staying put here in Florida where I make about half of that (and I'm considered highly paid around here). I would never expect SV pay for a 100% remote job that allowed to me to stay in my lowish COL beach town, and I don't know who would. That doesn't even make any sense.
ashwinaj 11y ago
250k total compensation or base? I can only imagine a good senior developer (10-15 years) getting paid 250k base.
hamburglar 11y ago
I'm in Seattle, and $125k (which you mentioned elsewhere) is definitely on the thrifty end of the spectrum these days around here, and I'd expect that to be really low for SV. You might be able to pull it off if your company is extremely cool or if you're offering crazy equity (which a profitable, conservatively managed company most certainly is not doing), but even up here, the big boys are easily hitting $300k total comp for senior developers. I can't imagine expectations are any lower in SV. Obviously, this just underscores your point, but I wanted to give you some datapoints since you seemed surprised that someone might not take the $125k offer. It's a seller's market.