3 ms·

A fundamental understanding that not everyone can get positions at those companies because those companies will always take the top 30% (or whatever) of people

A fundamental understanding that not everyone can get positions at those companies because those companies will always take the top 30% (or whatever) of people with skills they desire. If everyone decides to take your approach companies will simply become more selective, not employ more people than they need too, no matter how good they are.

TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
Not just the top X%, but the top X% living within commuting distance. There may be some interest in relocating specific highly desirable individuals, but they will already be industry insiders. Industry outsiders will not get relocation benefits. The problem is that jobs have been offshored to increase profits. You really have to think about this to understand it. The Harvard Business Economy has made it impossible for most people with average skills and abilities to find work that pays a living wage that makes essentials - not luxuries, but essentials like housing, food, and transport - reliably affordable. Developers have top X% skills and see a very skewed economy where their services are relatively in demand. Most people see a very different economy, which has left them behind with no prospects and no safety net. Historically, this rarely ends well.
- morgante 9y ago
  > There may be some interest in relocating specific highly desirable individuals, but they will already be industry insiders. That is not in any way my experience. For most companies willing to do relocation (including almost any good tech company), the interview bar is the same regardless of your current location. If they decide to hire you, they'll pay for your relation—especially since it's a blip compared to your total comp as a developer.
  - pjscott 9y ago
    That has been my experience too. There's a discontinuity along national borders, since green cards are a huge pain the in the regulatory ass, but when I've been interviewing for major tech companies nobody has mentioned within-US relocation expenses. They're too small to bother with, a few thousand bucks at most. Basically peanuts. (Full disclosure: I went to college in a place so boring that you had to go by the cows and the horses to get to class. I got hired to an unrealistically amazing job via Skype. There was no in-between. It was a big surprise.)

TheOtherHobbes 9y ago

Not just the top X%, but the top X% living within commuting distance. There may be some interest in relocating specific highly desirable individuals, but they will already be industry insiders. Industry outsiders will not get relocation benefits. The problem is that jobs have been offshored to increase profits. You really have to think about this to understand it. The Harvard Business Economy has made it impossible for most people with average skills and abilities to find work that pays a living wage that makes essentials - not luxuries, but essentials like housing, food, and transport - reliably affordable. Developers have top X% skills and see a very skewed economy where their services are relatively in demand. Most people see a very different economy, which has left them behind with no prospects and no safety net. Historically, this rarely ends well.

morgante 9y ago
> There may be some interest in relocating specific highly desirable individuals, but they will already be industry insiders. That is not in any way my experience. For most companies willing to do relocation (including almost any good tech company), the interview bar is the same regardless of your current location. If they decide to hire you, they'll pay for your relation—especially since it's a blip compared to your total comp as a developer.
- pjscott 9y ago
  That has been my experience too. There's a discontinuity along national borders, since green cards are a huge pain the in the regulatory ass, but when I've been interviewing for major tech companies nobody has mentioned within-US relocation expenses. They're too small to bother with, a few thousand bucks at most. Basically peanuts. (Full disclosure: I went to college in a place so boring that you had to go by the cows and the horses to get to class. I got hired to an unrealistically amazing job via Skype. There was no in-between. It was a big surprise.)