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I think we should all be less confident in this idea that software engineers have tons of bargaining power. The salary is relatively high compared to the US av

I think we should all be less confident in this idea that software engineers have tons of bargaining power. The salary is relatively high compared to the US average, but it's not obscene compared to say, product managers, high performing salespeople, etc. On occasion I've tried to pick up side jobs for 10-20 hours per week for a second company, and I've always been refused, not because I wasn't technically qualified but because they just weren't interested in considering non-standard work arrangements. If there were TRULY such a huge gulf in supply/demand, I would've been able to get a side job at 60-70% of my normal hourly-equivalent rate, for 10-20 hours per week, is my thinking. I've also observed a lot of stubbornness in salary bands and so on. By the way, I speak as a person who has previously made in excess of $200,000 per year in non-stock compensation.

knuththetruth 8y ago
Exactly. We should also keep in mind that developers have already seen their wages depressed by collusion between the big tech firms (which was punished with a slap on the wrist). And that's just the case we found out about.
wpietri 8y ago
Sure. I mentioned we have decent salary negotiating power because for many other industries that's the #1 reason to unionize, but I don't think many tech workers would find it compelling. Also, I'm not entirely sure your case is proof that there isn't a big supply/demand difference. I would be very unlikely to hire a developer 10 hours per week because software is collaborative intellectual work, and I'd have a hard time using somebody who wasn't around for much of the thinking and constantly needed to be brought up to date. Their efficiency (in terms of hours of actual coding versus hours of communication and keeping up with codebase changes) would be low, but their cost in terms of time spent by other workers would be at least the same. Occasionally I'll see small units of work that could safely be done by part-time contractors working on something solo. I definitely looked for this at my last startup, as my cofounder was correctly eager to accelerate things. But it was pretty rare that I found things where the cost/benefit ratio was at all decent.

knuththetruth 8y ago

Exactly. We should also keep in mind that developers have already seen their wages depressed by collusion between the big tech firms (which was punished with a slap on the wrist). And that's just the case we found out about.

wpietri 8y ago

Sure. I mentioned we have decent salary negotiating power because for many other industries that's the #1 reason to unionize, but I don't think many tech workers would find it compelling. Also, I'm not entirely sure your case is proof that there isn't a big supply/demand difference. I would be very unlikely to hire a developer 10 hours per week because software is collaborative intellectual work, and I'd have a hard time using somebody who wasn't around for much of the thinking and constantly needed to be brought up to date. Their efficiency (in terms of hours of actual coding versus hours of communication and keeping up with codebase changes) would be low, but their cost in terms of time spent by other workers would be at least the same. Occasionally I'll see small units of work that could safely be done by part-time contractors working on something solo. I definitely looked for this at my last startup, as my cofounder was correctly eager to accelerate things. But it was pretty rare that I found things where the cost/benefit ratio was at all decent.