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Most people who think of 400K (or even 200K in some previous discussions) as "outlier pay" are probably just not familiar with big tech pay and how much revenue

Most people who think of 400K (or even 200K in some previous discussions) as "outlier pay" are probably just not familiar with big tech pay and how much revenue they earn per engineer.

GordonS 8y ago
> how much revenue they earn per engineer That does not necessarily correlate with salary. At least it doesn't outside of SV.
- dunpeal 8y ago
  It correlates with how much a business will be ultimately willing to pay a developer, if they have to. If I'm making a $1M profit on you, I'll be willing to pay you up to a high fraction of this amount if I have to. Financially, even if I pay you $950K, I'm still making money. Assuming my business scales, I'd hire as many engineers like you as possible, and pay them the same. Why not? I'm making a profit for each one. Great deal for me. Of course, if you're willing to work for $100k, I'd rather pay you that instead. Hell, I'd rather you worked for me for free!
  - stealthmodeclan 8y ago
    If I'm making a $1M profit on you, I'll be willing to pay you up to a high fraction of this amount if I have to. Financially, even if I pay you $950K, I'm still making money. Where does the money come for dividends, taxes, and overhead? If there is enough supply of engineers at the same quality, no one will pay more.
    - dunpeal 8y ago
      Obviously, I'm keeping it simple. My point is, profit per engineer does have a lot to do with how much I'm willing to pay that engineer. I'd rather pay as little as possible, but if necessary, I'll pay almost as much as I make in profit, because I'd still be making money.
- pm90 8y ago
  Agreed. SV is different from the rest of the markets, and it is the main reason why it attracts so many engineers from all over the country (hell, from the world). Although I don't regret the time I spent outside of SV, from a financial perspective as a single young engineer, it absolutely, 100% makes financial sense to consider opportunities in SF that compensate you so well.
  - chrisper 8y ago
    >Agreed. SV is different from the rest of the markets, and it is the main reason why it attracts so many engineers from all over the country (hell, from the world). In my case, SV is so different that it actually made me want to leave. Personally, I can't recommend SV to anyone if monetary wealth isn't the only goal.

Most people who think of 400K (or even 200K in some previous discussions) as "outlier pay" are probably just not familiar with big tech pay and how much revenue they earn per engineer.

GordonS 8y ago

> how much revenue they earn per engineer That does not necessarily correlate with salary. At least it doesn't outside of SV.

dunpeal 8y ago
It correlates with how much a business will be ultimately willing to pay a developer, if they have to. If I'm making a $1M profit on you, I'll be willing to pay you up to a high fraction of this amount if I have to. Financially, even if I pay you $950K, I'm still making money. Assuming my business scales, I'd hire as many engineers like you as possible, and pay them the same. Why not? I'm making a profit for each one. Great deal for me. Of course, if you're willing to work for $100k, I'd rather pay you that instead. Hell, I'd rather you worked for me for free!
- stealthmodeclan 8y ago
  If I'm making a $1M profit on you, I'll be willing to pay you up to a high fraction of this amount if I have to. Financially, even if I pay you $950K, I'm still making money. Where does the money come for dividends, taxes, and overhead? If there is enough supply of engineers at the same quality, no one will pay more.
  - dunpeal 8y ago
    Obviously, I'm keeping it simple. My point is, profit per engineer does have a lot to do with how much I'm willing to pay that engineer. I'd rather pay as little as possible, but if necessary, I'll pay almost as much as I make in profit, because I'd still be making money.
pm90 8y ago
Agreed. SV is different from the rest of the markets, and it is the main reason why it attracts so many engineers from all over the country (hell, from the world). Although I don't regret the time I spent outside of SV, from a financial perspective as a single young engineer, it absolutely, 100% makes financial sense to consider opportunities in SF that compensate you so well.
- chrisper 8y ago
  >Agreed. SV is different from the rest of the markets, and it is the main reason why it attracts so many engineers from all over the country (hell, from the world). In my case, SV is so different that it actually made me want to leave. Personally, I can't recommend SV to anyone if monetary wealth isn't the only goal.