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> One worker asked why Pichai was paid hundreds of millions of dollars, while some Google employees struggle to afford to live in Silicon Valley I mean I under

> One worker asked why Pichai was paid hundreds of millions of dollars, while some Google employees struggle to afford to live in Silicon Valley I mean I understand getting upset at the income gap between CEO's and regular people, but it seems kind of strange to be complaining about your salary as a Google employee, where you are almost certainly making well over $100k, and walk past rows of camper trailers and homeless people on the way to work. Saying that you are struggling to afford to live in Silicon Valley seems like a bit of a stretch if you are an engineer at Google. I can sympathize with non-tech workers at Google who are probably making less though.

hrktb 8y ago
I feel a lot of Google employee’s request would be to not struggle to live. Whatever the place and salary, if it’s enough that they don’t have to think about it, they would be fine.
pgeorgi 8y ago
> your salary as a Google employee, where you are almost certainly making well over $100k ... I can sympathize with non-tech workers at Google who are probably making less though. Quite a few of these "non-tech workers" are employees, too.
- gaius 8y ago
  Quite a few of these "non-tech workers" are employees, too Google (et al) go to considerable, some might say elaborate, lengths to keep their service staff - cleaners, catering, security, etc - off the payroll and partitioned off. It makes no sense really, treating these people with respect would cost barely a rounding error in Google's bottom line. But even so they have a pathological urge to do it, to stratify a caste system almost.
lrem 8y ago
Chances are the question was asked by a childcare provider or a cook (some of them are still proper FTEs)... Edit: for clarity, even if you're a Google FTE, Google will only pay you "nearly top of the market for your job description", which for professions mentioned won't be all that much.
- tway2391426 8y ago
  None of those roles are allowed at TGIF. Nor are the cooks FTEs, though I will give you that one of the most inane "digital well being" proponents was a nursery teacher.
  - lrem 8y ago
    I'm pretty sure I remember a childcare provider asking a question in one of the Californian all-hands that reach me in Europe, not sure if it was a TGIF or an event-oriented one. I'm pretty sure not an org-oriented, given her profession. About the time I joined (I assume you can look that up) there was a bit of a ruckus about too many non-tech folk being contractors. Quite a few of them have been converted to FTEs, I assumed cooks were in that crowd and some are still around. Can be wrong about that. But I'm pretty sure that Charlie was truly a FTE ;)
CydeWeys 8y ago
You haven't looked at housing prices in Mountain View recently. If your goal in life is simply to own your own home (which seems reasonable to me), then even lower-level engineers are struggling.
- somethingle234 8y ago
  That statement doesn't seem fair though. If you goal is to own a home in Los Altos or Palo Alto, then even senior engineers are struggling. The real problem is the supply and attitude: * There are like tens of thousands people in Google HQ, and almost all homes in Mountain View are single houses. My uninformed estimate is that the number of homes in mountain view probably can't even accommodate half of the employees there. * Then, there are problems with good schools and bad schools. Bad schools in US are like the worst schools (e.g. gang, drug, guns.). From the country where I come from, bad schools are just bad academically. Children are not dying and shooting. This increases the home prices in the good school area even further. * Another similar problem in US is that a bad area is like extremely bad (e.g. gang, drug, guns). In other countries, more than often, a bad area is probably just old and dirty. * People in US are obssessed with a house with a hugeee yard. I'm coming from other countries. I grew up in a condo and I'd be happy living in a condo, tbh.
- nostrademons 8y ago
  That wouldn't really be affected by how much Google pays its engineers, though. There's a fixed supply of single-family housing in Mountain View, and >>> available supply seeks to live there. Under those conditions, housing prices adjust upwards until they reach the amount that the Nth bidder (where N = houses for sale <<< Google employees in Mountain View) is willing to pay. Increase salaries and you just increase the amount that everyone is willing to pay, and then you still get outbid by your coworkers. Assuming that owning a single-family home is non-negotiable, the only ways out of this are a.) get all your coworkers fired or b.) move out of the Bay Area. Mountain View (and the rest of the Bay Area) is basically fully built-out: there simply is no more land for 1/4 acre lots. (If you're willing to compromise on "single family home", there's another alternative: build up. This is the most realistic solution, but requires that people give up on the idea of a detached house with a yard and settle for condos instead.)

hrktb 8y ago

I feel a lot of Google employee’s request would be to not struggle to live. Whatever the place and salary, if it’s enough that they don’t have to think about it, they would be fine.

pgeorgi 8y ago

> your salary as a Google employee, where you are almost certainly making well over $100k ... I can sympathize with non-tech workers at Google who are probably making less though. Quite a few of these "non-tech workers" are employees, too.

gaius 8y ago
Quite a few of these "non-tech workers" are employees, too Google (et al) go to considerable, some might say elaborate, lengths to keep their service staff - cleaners, catering, security, etc - off the payroll and partitioned off. It makes no sense really, treating these people with respect would cost barely a rounding error in Google's bottom line. But even so they have a pathological urge to do it, to stratify a caste system almost.

lrem 8y ago

Chances are the question was asked by a childcare provider or a cook (some of them are still proper FTEs)... Edit: for clarity, even if you're a Google FTE, Google will only pay you "nearly top of the market for your job description", which for professions mentioned won't be all that much.

tway2391426 8y ago
None of those roles are allowed at TGIF. Nor are the cooks FTEs, though I will give you that one of the most inane "digital well being" proponents was a nursery teacher.
- lrem 8y ago
  I'm pretty sure I remember a childcare provider asking a question in one of the Californian all-hands that reach me in Europe, not sure if it was a TGIF or an event-oriented one. I'm pretty sure not an org-oriented, given her profession. About the time I joined (I assume you can look that up) there was a bit of a ruckus about too many non-tech folk being contractors. Quite a few of them have been converted to FTEs, I assumed cooks were in that crowd and some are still around. Can be wrong about that. But I'm pretty sure that Charlie was truly a FTE ;)

CydeWeys 8y ago

You haven't looked at housing prices in Mountain View recently. If your goal in life is simply to own your own home (which seems reasonable to me), then even lower-level engineers are struggling.

somethingle234 8y ago
That statement doesn't seem fair though. If you goal is to own a home in Los Altos or Palo Alto, then even senior engineers are struggling. The real problem is the supply and attitude: * There are like tens of thousands people in Google HQ, and almost all homes in Mountain View are single houses. My uninformed estimate is that the number of homes in mountain view probably can't even accommodate half of the employees there. * Then, there are problems with good schools and bad schools. Bad schools in US are like the worst schools (e.g. gang, drug, guns.). From the country where I come from, bad schools are just bad academically. Children are not dying and shooting. This increases the home prices in the good school area even further. * Another similar problem in US is that a bad area is like extremely bad (e.g. gang, drug, guns). In other countries, more than often, a bad area is probably just old and dirty. * People in US are obssessed with a house with a hugeee yard. I'm coming from other countries. I grew up in a condo and I'd be happy living in a condo, tbh.
nostrademons 8y ago
That wouldn't really be affected by how much Google pays its engineers, though. There's a fixed supply of single-family housing in Mountain View, and >>> available supply seeks to live there. Under those conditions, housing prices adjust upwards until they reach the amount that the Nth bidder (where N = houses for sale <<< Google employees in Mountain View) is willing to pay. Increase salaries and you just increase the amount that everyone is willing to pay, and then you still get outbid by your coworkers. Assuming that owning a single-family home is non-negotiable, the only ways out of this are a.) get all your coworkers fired or b.) move out of the Bay Area. Mountain View (and the rest of the Bay Area) is basically fully built-out: there simply is no more land for 1/4 acre lots. (If you're willing to compromise on "single family home", there's another alternative: build up. This is the most realistic solution, but requires that people give up on the idea of a detached house with a yard and settle for condos instead.)