3 ms·

It's totally normal for a CFO to get $20 million in stock, but shocking news when an engineer gets $3.5 million. How much longer will that last?

patio11 16y ago
It will last as long as the CFO is in the room when that decision is made and the engineer is not. (Psst: there is a fairly straightforward way to make sure you are always in the room when compensation decisions are made.)
- WildUtah 16y ago
  By owning the company or getting elected to the board?
Rod 16y ago
\begin{sarcasm} How dare you criticize the status quo? Don't you know that the job market for top executives is perfectly efficient, and that their compensation reflects their contribution to the company they serve? \end{sarcasm} Four decades ago, during the Nixon administration, the powers that be talked about the lack of technical talent in the United States. Clinton revived the discussion in the 1990s, and Obama talks about it now. In the big defense contractors (e.g., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, etc) the most senior engineer makes less than the most junior manager. It does not matter if the senior engineer has a PhD from Caltech and the junior manager was a business major at Cal State. This reality exists also in the Silicon Valley, but in a more subtle form. If the job market is efficient, then (in theory) the lack of qualified engineers should lead to an increase in pay for top engineering talent, right? Well, the job market is not efficient. Engineering is viewed by many as a blue-collar profession, and the pay gap exists to differentiate the ruling class from the working class.
exit 16y ago
why is "Rod"'s reply "dead"? --- 1 point by Rod 13 minutes ago | link [dead] \begin{sarcasm} How dare you criticize the status quo? Don't you know that the job market for top executives is perfectly efficient, and that their compensation reflects their contribution to the company they serve? \end{sarcasm} Four decades ago, during the Nixon administration, the powers that be talked about the lack of technical talent in the United States. Clinton revived the discussion in the 1990s, and Obama talks about it now. In the big defense contractors (e.g., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, etc) the most senior engineer makes less than the most junior manager. It does not matter if the senior engineer has a PhD from Caltech and the junior manager was a business major at Cal State. This reality exists also in the Silicon Valley, but in a more subtle form. If the job market is efficient, then (in theory) the lack of qualified engineers should lead to an increase in pay for top engineering talent, right? Well, the job market is not efficient. Engineering is viewed by many as a blue-collar profession, and the pay gap exists to differentiate the ruling class from the working class. ---
- semanticist 16y ago
  I'd say because it was flagged for having no actual content beyond an incendiary political viewpoint that most American-based HN readers find offensive because it clashes with their fundamental belief systems.
  - pyre 16y ago
    When did flagging comments become a feature? (Or has it just been in my blind spot?)
    - JoachimSchipper 16y ago
      With enough karma, you'll see a "flag" link when looking at individual comments.
    - jambo 16y ago
      You have to click on the comment's permalink to see the flag link. It doesn't show up on the main comments page.
  - mrtron 16y ago
    What is the offensiveness in the post? I read it a few times trying to find it, but couldn't. Is is something related to the specific presidents listed? This has me thinking - what about starting a news agency online. A disruptive news agency where every reporter cannot be from the region they are reporting on. It will be 'unbiased high level news' where only the big issues are reported on from an unbiased standpoint. I think I could be a good reporter on American news because I keep relatively up to date but have no skin in the game.
    - bugsy 16y ago
      That sounds like a really good idea.
  - bugsy 16y ago
    I disagree both that his post is primarily political in nature and that it has no content. It makes good points that a rare and difficult to find senior engineer for a tech company would make less than a run of the mill junior manager with a mediocre degree from a no-name school. Perhaps this has something to do with the alleged difficulty in finding talent (which oddly has never affected my firm, only firms unwilling to pay market rate it seems or those located in strange places such as anywhere in flyover country.) The topic of the thread is executive pay at google so why should comments responding directly to that theme be censored?

patio11 16y ago

It will last as long as the CFO is in the room when that decision is made and the engineer is not. (Psst: there is a fairly straightforward way to make sure you are always in the room when compensation decisions are made.)

WildUtah 16y ago
By owning the company or getting elected to the board?

Rod 16y ago

\begin{sarcasm} How dare you criticize the status quo? Don't you know that the job market for top executives is perfectly efficient, and that their compensation reflects their contribution to the company they serve? \end{sarcasm} Four decades ago, during the Nixon administration, the powers that be talked about the lack of technical talent in the United States. Clinton revived the discussion in the 1990s, and Obama talks about it now. In the big defense contractors (e.g., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, etc) the most senior engineer makes less than the most junior manager. It does not matter if the senior engineer has a PhD from Caltech and the junior manager was a business major at Cal State. This reality exists also in the Silicon Valley, but in a more subtle form. If the job market is efficient, then (in theory) the lack of qualified engineers should lead to an increase in pay for top engineering talent, right? Well, the job market is not efficient. Engineering is viewed by many as a blue-collar profession, and the pay gap exists to differentiate the ruling class from the working class.

exit 16y ago

why is "Rod"'s reply "dead"? --- 1 point by Rod 13 minutes ago | link [dead] \begin{sarcasm} How dare you criticize the status quo? Don't you know that the job market for top executives is perfectly efficient, and that their compensation reflects their contribution to the company they serve? \end{sarcasm} Four decades ago, during the Nixon administration, the powers that be talked about the lack of technical talent in the United States. Clinton revived the discussion in the 1990s, and Obama talks about it now. In the big defense contractors (e.g., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, etc) the most senior engineer makes less than the most junior manager. It does not matter if the senior engineer has a PhD from Caltech and the junior manager was a business major at Cal State. This reality exists also in the Silicon Valley, but in a more subtle form. If the job market is efficient, then (in theory) the lack of qualified engineers should lead to an increase in pay for top engineering talent, right? Well, the job market is not efficient. Engineering is viewed by many as a blue-collar profession, and the pay gap exists to differentiate the ruling class from the working class. ---

semanticist 16y ago
I'd say because it was flagged for having no actual content beyond an incendiary political viewpoint that most American-based HN readers find offensive because it clashes with their fundamental belief systems.
- pyre 16y ago
  When did flagging comments become a feature? (Or has it just been in my blind spot?)
  - JoachimSchipper 16y ago
    With enough karma, you'll see a "flag" link when looking at individual comments.
  - jambo 16y ago
    You have to click on the comment's permalink to see the flag link. It doesn't show up on the main comments page.
- mrtron 16y ago
  What is the offensiveness in the post? I read it a few times trying to find it, but couldn't. Is is something related to the specific presidents listed? This has me thinking - what about starting a news agency online. A disruptive news agency where every reporter cannot be from the region they are reporting on. It will be 'unbiased high level news' where only the big issues are reported on from an unbiased standpoint. I think I could be a good reporter on American news because I keep relatively up to date but have no skin in the game.
  - bugsy 16y ago
    That sounds like a really good idea.
- bugsy 16y ago
  I disagree both that his post is primarily political in nature and that it has no content. It makes good points that a rare and difficult to find senior engineer for a tech company would make less than a run of the mill junior manager with a mediocre degree from a no-name school. Perhaps this has something to do with the alleged difficulty in finding talent (which oddly has never affected my firm, only firms unwilling to pay market rate it seems or those located in strange places such as anywhere in flyover country.) The topic of the thread is executive pay at google so why should comments responding directly to that theme be censored?