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I think there is such a thing as overpaid when you have the janitor working for $15 per hour and minimal benefits [1] and you have your engineers getting paid $

I think there is such a thing as overpaid when you have the janitor working for $15 per hour and minimal benefits [1] and you have your engineers getting paid $200k with all sorts of benefits and perks. This kind of income disparity is completely unfair, and we haven't seen such high income and wealth disparity in the USA since the 1920s. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/26/facebook-workers-housing-janitors-unique-parsha https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/26/facebook-...

magduf 8y ago
Sorry, no. Anyone with half a brain can be a janitor; it takes almost zero skills and little training. Engineers need many years of education, and get more valuable with experience, and that's in addition to needing the raw aptitude in the first place. There's no way to create new engineers from the general population in a short timescale, just like you can't create new proficient musicians in week from a group of random people. Anyone can be taught to clean toilets and empty trash bins in 10 minutes. The income disparity is just a product of that reality. Outside of Silicon Valley, engineers don't get paid that much; the really high-income people are various executives, managers, finance people, business owners, etc. Engineers do pretty well for paid grunts, but compared to the ownership and executive classes, it's not that great.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  If both being a janitor and a software engineer paid the same amount of money, I'd still rather be a software engineer. Obviously in a capitalist society it makes perfect sense to pay your staff the minimum possible while still retaining them. But it doesn't make it a fair system. Just because I had the privilege of being born into a good family with a good head on my shoulders doesn't mean that I deserve to get paid between 5 and 8 times more than the janitor (the income disparity between a janitor on $15 and a software engineer making 6 figures). In Australia I make roughly double what the cleaners make. I think that's a much more equitable number.
  - magduf 8y ago
    If you want to set aside 7/8 of your income and run around handing it out to janitors, you're free to do so.

magduf 8y ago

Sorry, no. Anyone with half a brain can be a janitor; it takes almost zero skills and little training. Engineers need many years of education, and get more valuable with experience, and that's in addition to needing the raw aptitude in the first place. There's no way to create new engineers from the general population in a short timescale, just like you can't create new proficient musicians in week from a group of random people. Anyone can be taught to clean toilets and empty trash bins in 10 minutes. The income disparity is just a product of that reality. Outside of Silicon Valley, engineers don't get paid that much; the really high-income people are various executives, managers, finance people, business owners, etc. Engineers do pretty well for paid grunts, but compared to the ownership and executive classes, it's not that great.

toomanybeersies 8y ago
If both being a janitor and a software engineer paid the same amount of money, I'd still rather be a software engineer. Obviously in a capitalist society it makes perfect sense to pay your staff the minimum possible while still retaining them. But it doesn't make it a fair system. Just because I had the privilege of being born into a good family with a good head on my shoulders doesn't mean that I deserve to get paid between 5 and 8 times more than the janitor (the income disparity between a janitor on $15 and a software engineer making 6 figures). In Australia I make roughly double what the cleaners make. I think that's a much more equitable number.
- magduf 8y ago
  If you want to set aside 7/8 of your income and run around handing it out to janitors, you're free to do so.