6 ms·

In most tech companies base salary is already 150 percent of the average salary.

wyager 9y ago
Doesn’t mean it’s fair. I hope people haven’t forgotten that Apple and Google recently got busted for price-fixing salaries.
- dailyvijeos 9y ago
  Yup. Also, Stanford abuses temp workers for years and years as standard practice to avoid paying benefits.
  - sjg007 9y ago
    The tech industry is notorious in using contractors as well.
dailyvijeos 9y ago
New grads need to realize $100k/yr gross (~$70k net) at 100 hr/wk is ~ $13.50/hr net. So either get a better comp. package or refuse to work like a slave.
- heartbreak 9y ago
  Yeah I think I’d start with 100hr/wk being absurd. I’ve worked at startups and 50 was an unusually high number of hours for a given week.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
  Most new grads (or employees in general) are NOT working 100 hrs a week, even in startups.
  - ben-schaaf 9y ago
    Anecdote, but I currently work ~40 hours at a startup during holidays as an undergrad.
- foota 9y ago
  I'm a new grad. My comp package is a -bit- cushier than that at 40 hrs/wk
- mehwoot 9y ago
  Who the hell works 100 hours a week? 14 hours a day, every day of the week?
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    * lowers head in shame Actually maybe only 80. Foundin is hard.
  - vvanders 9y ago
    Most of the gamedev industry for starters. Did many 80-90hr weeks for 3+ month periods. Back when I was making 35k/yr in Seattle I did the math and could have doubled my take-home working a min-wage job at the hours I was putting in.
    - dahart 9y ago
      I've done 80 sustained for long periods multiple times (3mos - 9mos), in both film and games, over two decades. In my experience, more than 80 is quite rare in both industries, and less than half ever get above 70. There simply isn't much time left to do more for any length of time. At 80 hours/wk, you eat, sleep, and work, and that's it. More than 80 and you're cutting into sleep. One guy I know pulled over 100 for a couple months, but we was definitely sleeping inhumanly low amounts, and was taking prescription drugs to stay awake. The last game studio I worked at measured actual work hours and noted a significant discrepancy between what people thought they worked and what they actually worked. A lot of people over-estimate their load during crunch. Maybe they factor in commutes, maybe they just over-estimate, but a lot of people that though they worked 80 were only in the building for ~60-65. Some people who thought (or at least said) they were pulling 45-50 were actually working 35. Maybe the mental stress of crunch adds phantom hours.
      - jermaustin1 9y ago
        I consider commuting as part of my working hours. If I'm driving to a client, it is billable time, if I'm using public transit it is a reimbursed fare plus I do work on the train/bus for them or another client (so it's billable). Commuting especially in heavily congested cities should be calculated as part of your "work hours". If not to increase your pay, so you know what your hourly rate actually is.
- obstacle1 9y ago
  Almost nobody is working 100 or even 80 hours a week.
- largote 9y ago
  I'd laugh in the face of anyone who asked me to work more than 40 hours for more than 2 weeks a quarter.
Frondo 9y ago
I wonder what the percentage is of revenue. I see this a lot; techies are paid well compared to a lot of other industries, and yeah, no argument there. My question becomes: how much better paid should they be, looking up the company hierarchy, looking at owners/investors/etc? The question of "what's fair" shouldn't be restrained just to us workers, the comparison should really map out in along a different spectrum.
dheera 9y ago
Most tech companies are also located in places where living expenses are 200% of average.
- adventured 9y ago
  That's incorrect as it pertains to the US. In fact, it's not even remotely close to being true. The majority of tech companies and tech employment in the US exists outside of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. There are 6.9 million technology jobs in the US currently. There are about 1.2 million technology jobs in all of California. Just Texas + Florida = 900,000. New York has close to 400,000. So CA + NY = 1.6 million out of 6.9 million US technology jobs. Not all of those are located in SF, LA, NYC. Also of importance: a very large percentage of that tech workforce in California, consists of a small number of huge tech companies. The slim minority of tech companies are located in locations with such extreme living expenses. They do represent the extreme outlier outcomes when it comes to producing iconic mega corporations (high value market capitalizations). It turns out there is an extremely large economy outside of Silicon Valley. See: Cyberstates 2017 Study "The definitive state-by-state analysis of the U.S. tech industry" http://www.cyberstates.org/pdf/CompTIA%20Cyberstates%202017.pdf http://www.cyberstates.org/pdf/CompTIA%20Cyberstates%202017....

Doesn’t mean it’s fair. I hope people haven’t forgotten that Apple and Google recently got busted for price-fixing salaries.

dailyvijeos 9y ago
Yup. Also, Stanford abuses temp workers for years and years as standard practice to avoid paying benefits.
- sjg007 9y ago
  The tech industry is notorious in using contractors as well.

dailyvijeos 9y ago

New grads need to realize $100k/yr gross (~$70k net) at 100 hr/wk is ~ $13.50/hr net. So either get a better comp. package or refuse to work like a slave.

heartbreak 9y ago
Yeah I think I’d start with 100hr/wk being absurd. I’ve worked at startups and 50 was an unusually high number of hours for a given week.
kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
Most new grads (or employees in general) are NOT working 100 hrs a week, even in startups.
- ben-schaaf 9y ago
  Anecdote, but I currently work ~40 hours at a startup during holidays as an undergrad.
foota 9y ago
I'm a new grad. My comp package is a -bit- cushier than that at 40 hrs/wk
mehwoot 9y ago
Who the hell works 100 hours a week? 14 hours a day, every day of the week?
- brianwawok 9y ago
  * lowers head in shame Actually maybe only 80. Foundin is hard.
- vvanders 9y ago
  Most of the gamedev industry for starters. Did many 80-90hr weeks for 3+ month periods. Back when I was making 35k/yr in Seattle I did the math and could have doubled my take-home working a min-wage job at the hours I was putting in.
  - dahart 9y ago
    I've done 80 sustained for long periods multiple times (3mos - 9mos), in both film and games, over two decades. In my experience, more than 80 is quite rare in both industries, and less than half ever get above 70. There simply isn't much time left to do more for any length of time. At 80 hours/wk, you eat, sleep, and work, and that's it. More than 80 and you're cutting into sleep. One guy I know pulled over 100 for a couple months, but we was definitely sleeping inhumanly low amounts, and was taking prescription drugs to stay awake. The last game studio I worked at measured actual work hours and noted a significant discrepancy between what people thought they worked and what they actually worked. A lot of people over-estimate their load during crunch. Maybe they factor in commutes, maybe they just over-estimate, but a lot of people that though they worked 80 were only in the building for ~60-65. Some people who thought (or at least said) they were pulling 45-50 were actually working 35. Maybe the mental stress of crunch adds phantom hours.
    - jermaustin1 9y ago
      I consider commuting as part of my working hours. If I'm driving to a client, it is billable time, if I'm using public transit it is a reimbursed fare plus I do work on the train/bus for them or another client (so it's billable). Commuting especially in heavily congested cities should be calculated as part of your "work hours". If not to increase your pay, so you know what your hourly rate actually is.
obstacle1 9y ago
Almost nobody is working 100 or even 80 hours a week.
largote 9y ago
I'd laugh in the face of anyone who asked me to work more than 40 hours for more than 2 weeks a quarter.

Frondo 9y ago

I wonder what the percentage is of revenue. I see this a lot; techies are paid well compared to a lot of other industries, and yeah, no argument there. My question becomes: how much better paid should they be, looking up the company hierarchy, looking at owners/investors/etc? The question of "what's fair" shouldn't be restrained just to us workers, the comparison should really map out in along a different spectrum.

dheera 9y ago

Most tech companies are also located in places where living expenses are 200% of average.

adventured 9y ago
That's incorrect as it pertains to the US. In fact, it's not even remotely close to being true. The majority of tech companies and tech employment in the US exists outside of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. There are 6.9 million technology jobs in the US currently. There are about 1.2 million technology jobs in all of California. Just Texas + Florida = 900,000. New York has close to 400,000. So CA + NY = 1.6 million out of 6.9 million US technology jobs. Not all of those are located in SF, LA, NYC. Also of importance: a very large percentage of that tech workforce in California, consists of a small number of huge tech companies. The slim minority of tech companies are located in locations with such extreme living expenses. They do represent the extreme outlier outcomes when it comes to producing iconic mega corporations (high value market capitalizations). It turns out there is an extremely large economy outside of Silicon Valley. See: Cyberstates 2017 Study "The definitive state-by-state analysis of the U.S. tech industry" http://www.cyberstates.org/pdf/CompTIA%20Cyberstates%202017.pdf http://www.cyberstates.org/pdf/CompTIA%20Cyberstates%202017....