7 ms·

Everyone will always prioritize the wellbeing of their own family VS some random people in the company you work in. Well-off devs like the guy who quit Amazon

Everyone will always prioritize the wellbeing of their own family VS some random people in the company you work in. Well-off devs like the guy who quit Amazon don't have $$$ issues, so he can afford to do that. Others don't, and that doesn't make them bad. That makes them care for their family first.

mapleoin 6y ago
I don't think that anyone with a developer salary and the ability to find another job with exactly the same salary or better within a month you can honestly say they have $$$ issues.
- clevergadget 6y ago
  This is so obviously true and the higher the number of people questioning it here == the rate at which I devalue hacker news. Outside of specific extenuating circumstances to not have this perspective is either devil's advocacy, ignorance, fear in a way that suggests therapy. If you can't feel safe without hundreds of thousands of dollars in passive income that is a you problem not a world problem.
ddevault 6y ago
Author here. I addressed this upfront in TFA. Especially if you're working at for FAANG level salaries, there's no excuse for trying.
- tensor 6y ago
  People making FAANG level salaries on this site routinely complain that they are "grossly" underpaid.
  - mcny 6y ago
    > People making FAANG level salaries on this site routinely complain that they are "grossly" underpaid. I wouldn't say they are grossly underpaid as much as I'd say executives (not necessarily all management) is grossly overpaid. The market has failed us. People tell me to not look at someone else's plate to see how much more they have than I do but it doesn't make sense when so much wealth/power is concentrated at the top. Btw, I don't make FAANG level salaries so I can't speak for them. I still believe there is a magic number like maybe 10, 50, or up to 100 which is a multiplier of the minimum wage above which the income tax must be 90%+ So for example, if the magic number is 50 and minimum wage is $15, then $15 * 50 * 2000 (a year), then income above 1.5M would be subject to the highest level bracket. I sincerely believe the magic number should be no greater than 100.
    - nogabebop23 6y ago
      >> I still believe there is a magic number like maybe 10, 50, or up to 100 which is a multiplier of the minimum wage above which the income tax must be 90%+ The fact that you refer to it as a magic number implies that this at best wishful thinking.
      - mcny 6y ago
        > The fact that you refer to it as a magic number implies that this at best wishful thinking. I agree. It is wishful thinking at the moment but it isn't entirely unreasonable. This is about individual income tax and not corporate income tax (which is a completely different thing altogether which I can't tax like individual income even in my make-believe world [0]). I think individual income tax changes I propose are very reasonable. I'd say if you are wealthy, my proposal is very much preferable to a wealth tax. [0] For example, according to https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/financials?ltr=1 https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/financials?ltr=1 the trailing twelve months, Walmart total revenue was ~523B, cost of revenue ~394B, and the most important bottom line, income before tax was only ~$20B. Ideally, we should be taxing revenue with no regard to expenses but there is no good way I can think of to do that other than drastically decreasing the tax rate to max out at about 2% so this is a different discussion altogether and likely not very fruitful.
  - Jasper_ 6y ago
    Engineers who think they deserve more than anybody else because computer typing creates infinite value will always complain. While I can't speak to everyone's financial situation (cost of living differ from person to person), I do not imagine anybody working as an engineer at FAANG is living paycheck to paycheck, or is behind on their bills.
    - mywittyname 6y ago
      You don't have a very effective imagination. Lots of people you perceive as wealthy are in debt up to their eyeballs. Even famous movie stars and political elites have financial troubles. They (FAANG engineers) absolutely earn a salary which would allow them to live a ordinary life with much to spare, but the world is full of people who don't want to be ordinary.
Loughla 6y ago
That was sort of the entire point of the writing. Because tech folks are in a privileged class, they have the ability to move jobs based on morals. And therefore they should. Not doing that, when you are making as much as you are as a programmer at BIGCORP means you are complicit in the bad behavior. That was the entire point. He addressed your concern in the first two paragraphs.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  If you were to ask my circle of friends and family, even bigcorp programmer money isn’t sufficient to feel secure due to future economic volatility. Especially if your goal is to make sure your kids get to live in the richer neighborhoods and go to the richer schools, and so on and so forth. And it’s not just a perceived fear. The data shows that if you’re not in the portion of people increasing their rate of income/wealth growth, then you’re in the portion that is decreasing in income/wealth growth, and that compounds for your kids. I would want a few hundred thousand in passive income before I would say I had FU money, which also means a few million in diversified assets other than my house. Especially in the US, where quality healthcare is a minimum $20k per year for a family in insurance premiums alone plus a few ten thousands in out of pocket costs.
  - aaron_m04 6y ago
    > And it’s not just a perceived fear. The data shows that if you’re not in the portion of people increasing their rate of income/wealth growth, then you’re in the portion that is decreasing in income/wealth growth, and that compounds for your kids. Neither income nor wealth growth are zero sum games. This whole post reads like a bunch of excuses.
  - clevergadget 6y ago
    Can you put a ballpark net worth at which you would feel secure?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
normalnorm 6y ago
Right. Is this the situation you imagined when you started?

mapleoin 6y ago

I don't think that anyone with a developer salary and the ability to find another job with exactly the same salary or better within a month you can honestly say they have $$$ issues.

clevergadget 6y ago
This is so obviously true and the higher the number of people questioning it here == the rate at which I devalue hacker news. Outside of specific extenuating circumstances to not have this perspective is either devil's advocacy, ignorance, fear in a way that suggests therapy. If you can't feel safe without hundreds of thousands of dollars in passive income that is a you problem not a world problem.

ddevault 6y ago

Author here. I addressed this upfront in TFA. Especially if you're working at for FAANG level salaries, there's no excuse for trying.

tensor 6y ago
People making FAANG level salaries on this site routinely complain that they are "grossly" underpaid.
- mcny 6y ago
  > People making FAANG level salaries on this site routinely complain that they are "grossly" underpaid. I wouldn't say they are grossly underpaid as much as I'd say executives (not necessarily all management) is grossly overpaid. The market has failed us. People tell me to not look at someone else's plate to see how much more they have than I do but it doesn't make sense when so much wealth/power is concentrated at the top. Btw, I don't make FAANG level salaries so I can't speak for them. I still believe there is a magic number like maybe 10, 50, or up to 100 which is a multiplier of the minimum wage above which the income tax must be 90%+ So for example, if the magic number is 50 and minimum wage is $15, then $15 * 50 * 2000 (a year), then income above 1.5M would be subject to the highest level bracket. I sincerely believe the magic number should be no greater than 100.
  - nogabebop23 6y ago
    >> I still believe there is a magic number like maybe 10, 50, or up to 100 which is a multiplier of the minimum wage above which the income tax must be 90%+ The fact that you refer to it as a magic number implies that this at best wishful thinking.
    - mcny 6y ago
      > The fact that you refer to it as a magic number implies that this at best wishful thinking. I agree. It is wishful thinking at the moment but it isn't entirely unreasonable. This is about individual income tax and not corporate income tax (which is a completely different thing altogether which I can't tax like individual income even in my make-believe world [0]). I think individual income tax changes I propose are very reasonable. I'd say if you are wealthy, my proposal is very much preferable to a wealth tax. [0] For example, according to https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/financials?ltr=1 https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/financials?ltr=1 the trailing twelve months, Walmart total revenue was ~523B, cost of revenue ~394B, and the most important bottom line, income before tax was only ~$20B. Ideally, we should be taxing revenue with no regard to expenses but there is no good way I can think of to do that other than drastically decreasing the tax rate to max out at about 2% so this is a different discussion altogether and likely not very fruitful.
- Jasper_ 6y ago
  Engineers who think they deserve more than anybody else because computer typing creates infinite value will always complain. While I can't speak to everyone's financial situation (cost of living differ from person to person), I do not imagine anybody working as an engineer at FAANG is living paycheck to paycheck, or is behind on their bills.
  - mywittyname 6y ago
    You don't have a very effective imagination. Lots of people you perceive as wealthy are in debt up to their eyeballs. Even famous movie stars and political elites have financial troubles. They (FAANG engineers) absolutely earn a salary which would allow them to live a ordinary life with much to spare, but the world is full of people who don't want to be ordinary.

Loughla 6y ago

That was sort of the entire point of the writing. Because tech folks are in a privileged class, they have the ability to move jobs based on morals. And therefore they should. Not doing that, when you are making as much as you are as a programmer at BIGCORP means you are complicit in the bad behavior. That was the entire point. He addressed your concern in the first two paragraphs.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
If you were to ask my circle of friends and family, even bigcorp programmer money isn’t sufficient to feel secure due to future economic volatility. Especially if your goal is to make sure your kids get to live in the richer neighborhoods and go to the richer schools, and so on and so forth. And it’s not just a perceived fear. The data shows that if you’re not in the portion of people increasing their rate of income/wealth growth, then you’re in the portion that is decreasing in income/wealth growth, and that compounds for your kids. I would want a few hundred thousand in passive income before I would say I had FU money, which also means a few million in diversified assets other than my house. Especially in the US, where quality healthcare is a minimum $20k per year for a family in insurance premiums alone plus a few ten thousands in out of pocket costs.
- aaron_m04 6y ago
  > And it’s not just a perceived fear. The data shows that if you’re not in the portion of people increasing their rate of income/wealth growth, then you’re in the portion that is decreasing in income/wealth growth, and that compounds for your kids. Neither income nor wealth growth are zero sum games. This whole post reads like a bunch of excuses.
- clevergadget 6y ago
  Can you put a ballpark net worth at which you would feel secure?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

normalnorm 6y ago

Right. Is this the situation you imagined when you started?