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The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode. That doesn't make them bad engineers. But it precludes them from

The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode. That doesn't make them bad engineers. But it precludes them from passing the incredibly one-dimensional assessment FANGs apply to engineers. The hiring committees would throw fits if they had to consider hiring even the upper-end of talent in non-competitive markets. These committees could be in for a reckoning if businesses realized they could be just as effective with mid market talent, because truthfully, not every problem that needs to be solved at a FANG needs a top 1% best-of-breed, (for example) 15+years-of-GPU experience engineer. Not every problem demands niche, hard-to-find specialty.

war1025 6y ago
> The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode I think this hits on a very real signal that is sent by someone being willing to relocate cross-country for work. I know people from college that moved out to the coasts to work for big name tech companies. They were probably "above average", but none of them were terribly noteworthy. The thing they were willing to do that the rest of us weren't was uproot from the midwest and go to the coast. That's a signal that you're willing to tie your self worth to your job in a way that is very valuable (exploitable) to a company.
- bitcoinmoney 6y ago
  Pretty much described every H1b-er in HN. Except prolly the body shop employees.
RHSeeger 6y ago
> The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode. > not every problem that needs to be solved at a FANG needs a top 1% best-of-breed, (for example I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. The wording in the first sentence is that of someone being sarcastic, mocking the people who would actually use such language and/or expect such things. But the second quote sounds like you're being serious. The difference between people living in high COL areas and low COL isn't how much they hustle. Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas, including one I was praising just recently for being a role model for others. As a side note, if you're doing 100 hours of work a week, you're almost certainly doing a bad job at all of it. With the exception of a small subset of people, it's been shown that work quality decreases drastically when working long hours (for all the work being done, not just the work past the normal hours). Expecting your workers to put in those hours means you're aiming for sub-optimal, low quality work.
- JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
  Next sentence following the first quote: "That doesn't make them bad engineers." You stated "Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas". I think we agree here. The broader point with the first quote: People living in LCOL areas don't pull out all the bells-and-whistles to signal how absolutely amazing of an employee they'd be. Why? Because it doesn't matter in LCOL areas. If you went to a town in the middle of nowhere, and held everyone to the Leetcode hard bar, a smaller proportion would pass than in Silicon Valley. However, the hiring bar is lower in these areas as well -- therefore, one doesn't need to practice leetcode to secure employment in LCOL areas. Re side note: I didn't say people do 100 hours of leetcode in a specific timeframe (one week was mentioned, but the GP comment didn't suggested that). Typically, interviewees Leetcode in preparation for FANGs. This preparation is done typically over a period of months.

war1025 6y ago

> The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode I think this hits on a very real signal that is sent by someone being willing to relocate cross-country for work. I know people from college that moved out to the coasts to work for big name tech companies. They were probably "above average", but none of them were terribly noteworthy. The thing they were willing to do that the rest of us weren't was uproot from the midwest and go to the coast. That's a signal that you're willing to tie your self worth to your job in a way that is very valuable (exploitable) to a company.

bitcoinmoney 6y ago
Pretty much described every H1b-er in HN. Except prolly the body shop employees.

RHSeeger 6y ago

> The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode. > not every problem that needs to be solved at a FANG needs a top 1% best-of-breed, (for example I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. The wording in the first sentence is that of someone being sarcastic, mocking the people who would actually use such language and/or expect such things. But the second quote sounds like you're being serious. The difference between people living in high COL areas and low COL isn't how much they hustle. Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas, including one I was praising just recently for being a role model for others. As a side note, if you're doing 100 hours of work a week, you're almost certainly doing a bad job at all of it. With the exception of a small subset of people, it's been shown that work quality decreases drastically when working long hours (for all the work being done, not just the work past the normal hours). Expecting your workers to put in those hours means you're aiming for sub-optimal, low quality work.

JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
Next sentence following the first quote: "That doesn't make them bad engineers." You stated "Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas". I think we agree here. The broader point with the first quote: People living in LCOL areas don't pull out all the bells-and-whistles to signal how absolutely amazing of an employee they'd be. Why? Because it doesn't matter in LCOL areas. If you went to a town in the middle of nowhere, and held everyone to the Leetcode hard bar, a smaller proportion would pass than in Silicon Valley. However, the hiring bar is lower in these areas as well -- therefore, one doesn't need to practice leetcode to secure employment in LCOL areas. Re side note: I didn't say people do 100 hours of leetcode in a specific timeframe (one week was mentioned, but the GP comment didn't suggested that). Typically, interviewees Leetcode in preparation for FANGs. This preparation is done typically over a period of months.