4 ms·

This has always bothered me about GitLab and has prevented me from applying for a job there. I want to work remotely so I can move around a lot, both for long-t

This has always bothered me about GitLab and has prevented me from applying for a job there. I want to work remotely so I can move around a lot, both for long-term travel and to check out different places to live. I don't have a home. If I'm hired from NYC and then I move to rural Montana, that's none of their business. So long as I have reliable Internet wherever I am, and can work the hours I need (I'm happy to adjust my work schedule to Eastern Time from anywhere in the world, for example), then I should be paid based on my work. Is GitLab going to pay for my rental homes and airfare as I wander around the world? Are they going to adjust my pay every time I move? Are they going to pay me more because I spend a year in an RV and fuel is expensive? Are they going to adjust my pay for rent in the Cayman Islands even though food and electricity are the primary expenses there, rather than rent? The whole thing smacks of socialism as well, and reminds me of the line from some Ayn Rand novel (not endorsing her): "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Do they also plan to pay their employees based on their medical expenses and how many kids they have?

vidarh 7y ago
> This has always bothered me about GitLab and has prevented me from applying for a job there. That seems exceedingly silly to me. If they offer you pay you're happy with, what does it matter to you? As for your concerns about moving, then that would be a logical thing to ask about, just like discussing your remote working needs would be important with any other prospective employers. As it stands, fully remote employment opportunities are rare enough that it'd seem bothering to actually clarify details would be worthwhile if they otherwise seem like they might be a good fit. > The whole thing smacks of socialism as well, and reminds me of the line from some Ayn Rand novel (not endorsing her): "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Do they also plan to pay their employees based on their medical expenses and how many kids they have? This, to me, is ridiculous. It smacks of a private company optimizing pay for what they can get away with in different locations, rather than paying based on the most expensive area they want to be able to hire in. The missing piece that distinguishes what they do from socialism is that there is no indication that Gitlab aims to pay out as much as possible of their revenue after other costs to employees vs. building shareholder value. As far as I'm aware Gitlab is not a workers coop. The line was incidentally popularized by Karl Marx "Critique of the Gotha Programme" (1875), and variations of it in the socialist community and elsewhere long preceded the Critique. Arguably it originates in the Bible (Acts 4:32-35; describing the community of Christians in Jerusalem), but then early Christianity was in many ways a "proto-socialism" (and e.g. in Europe, things like public healthcare in most countries have come about thanks to interplay between Christian democrats and socialists, not due to socialists alone; Germany, in fact, got its first insurance system as Bismarck appealed to Christian morality to get support for a system designed to kill of support for the socialist groups he at the same time outlawed). Ayn Rand borrowed it explicitly for one of her attacks on socialism, but missed the mark badly in that Marx in the Critique itself points out that "Right can never be higher than the economic structure of society and its cultural development conditioned thereby," or in other words, according to Marx a company in a capitalist economy can not successfully act as a socialist company - doing so is impossible because it needs to interact with and compete with capitalist companies on capitalist terms, which means the ability to optimize salaries and employment to minimize cost for example. So Ayn Rand concocted a scenario that Marx would have agreed with her was doomed to failure.
meowface 7y ago
They pay you according to how much they think you'll keep. If your rent is $3500/month, you'll take home less than if it's $600/month.
dmode 7y ago
Let's say Gitlab hired you in rural Montana with a salary appropriate for that location. If you then decide to move to NYC, would it be fair for you to retain the same pay ?

vidarh 7y ago

> This has always bothered me about GitLab and has prevented me from applying for a job there. That seems exceedingly silly to me. If they offer you pay you're happy with, what does it matter to you? As for your concerns about moving, then that would be a logical thing to ask about, just like discussing your remote working needs would be important with any other prospective employers. As it stands, fully remote employment opportunities are rare enough that it'd seem bothering to actually clarify details would be worthwhile if they otherwise seem like they might be a good fit. > The whole thing smacks of socialism as well, and reminds me of the line from some Ayn Rand novel (not endorsing her): "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Do they also plan to pay their employees based on their medical expenses and how many kids they have? This, to me, is ridiculous. It smacks of a private company optimizing pay for what they can get away with in different locations, rather than paying based on the most expensive area they want to be able to hire in. The missing piece that distinguishes what they do from socialism is that there is no indication that Gitlab aims to pay out as much as possible of their revenue after other costs to employees vs. building shareholder value. As far as I'm aware Gitlab is not a workers coop. The line was incidentally popularized by Karl Marx "Critique of the Gotha Programme" (1875), and variations of it in the socialist community and elsewhere long preceded the Critique. Arguably it originates in the Bible (Acts 4:32-35; describing the community of Christians in Jerusalem), but then early Christianity was in many ways a "proto-socialism" (and e.g. in Europe, things like public healthcare in most countries have come about thanks to interplay between Christian democrats and socialists, not due to socialists alone; Germany, in fact, got its first insurance system as Bismarck appealed to Christian morality to get support for a system designed to kill of support for the socialist groups he at the same time outlawed). Ayn Rand borrowed it explicitly for one of her attacks on socialism, but missed the mark badly in that Marx in the Critique itself points out that "Right can never be higher than the economic structure of society and its cultural development conditioned thereby," or in other words, according to Marx a company in a capitalist economy can not successfully act as a socialist company - doing so is impossible because it needs to interact with and compete with capitalist companies on capitalist terms, which means the ability to optimize salaries and employment to minimize cost for example. So Ayn Rand concocted a scenario that Marx would have agreed with her was doomed to failure.

meowface 7y ago

They pay you according to how much they think you'll keep. If your rent is $3500/month, you'll take home less than if it's $600/month.

dmode 7y ago

Let's say Gitlab hired you in rural Montana with a salary appropriate for that location. If you then decide to move to NYC, would it be fair for you to retain the same pay ?