3 ms·

Npmjs reducing salaries for employees up to 50% post acquisition by GitHub

18 points by raiyu 6y ago

fxtentacle 6y ago
It appears the same person also insulted their future CTO in public for asking a harmless question on Twitter? https://mobile.twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/1283841795210858496 https://mobile.twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/12838417952108... "Sometimes I wish I was a mediocre white man so that I could coast as CTO of a multi-billion dollar company." and RTing Jason Warner. I don't know him personally, but from what I heard, Mr. Warner is most likely extremely good at understanding and planning complex distributed software systems. And if I was him, I'd then feel slightly offended to be called "mediocre white man". I understand that I'll most likely get downvoted into oblivion for this comment, because I'm not supporting the person claiming minority discrimination here. (Or else there would be little reason for her to reduce the GitHub CTO to his male and white attributes.) But just in case there's anyone here considering something similar, let me advise you that insulting your boss in public (no matter which gender or skin color) is probably never the right move of you want a better job offer from them.
- acemarke 6y ago
  Per her prior tweets, she already left NPM/MS along with several others who were let go / pushed out. So, "past CTO", not "future". https://twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/1283836780110848000 https://twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/1283836780110848000 > I was already part of a layoff round at the end of March. They forced a layoffs on a third of the company - it also disproportionately affected people of color, ex all 5 black engineers were laid off. So this incident is happening to the remaining folks now. Very sad.
  - fxtentacle 6y ago
    Fair point, but would you want to hire someone who has a history of taking bad about previous employers? For me, that would set off the same red flags as someone who won't stop complaining about their horrible ex relationships...
    - acemarke 6y ago
      full disclosure: I've met Amal at a couple conferences and talked to her a few times, but don't claim to know her extremely well. I have no particular reason to doubt the factual claims she's made so far (NPM employees laid off / pushed out due to COLA salary drops). Given that, I would say her resulting statements are pretty justified. I've never been in a hiring position, so I can't speculate on how that would make me view things from that angle.
- sushid 6y ago
  It looks like the tweet was made by an ex-NPM employee that was laid off in March. And looking further, it looks like the pay reduction is happening to some non-US employees as a part of a their COLA adjustment.
  - fxtentacle 6y ago
    While I personally believe cost is living adjustments to be morally questionable, one might as well argue that people of similar skill level should enjoy a similar level of living comfort. And the latter would imply that people in expensive areas need to receive more money for the same job. But overall, this post to me illustrates why a company is better off cleanly firing past employees after a tech acquisition instead of trying to integrate them into the new company structure. Trying to treat your employees nicely opens you up to more criticism than firing them (as they fear and expect).
  - darkarmani 6y ago
    So they were living in low cost geographic region making bay area salary? What do you think would happen if you got acquired and they were over-paying you at 2x? Be thankful you were raking in the money before.
- jdxcode 6y ago
  > I don't know him personally, but from what I heard, Mr. Warner is most likely extremely good at understanding and planning complex distributed software systems. I worked under him as an IC for a few years at Heroku. I'd certainly agree with that statement.
bdcravens 6y ago
I don't know the circumstances, but if a company is paying well above the market (I've been a recipient of such good fortune before), what are the odds of retaining that in an acquisition?
- jdxcode 6y ago
  I feel the likely outcome is that you just wouldn't get a raise for a while
chrisbennet 6y ago
Is working 50% less an option? :-)

18 points by raiyu 6y ago

It appears the same person also insulted their future CTO in public for asking a harmless question on Twitter? https://mobile.twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/1283841795210858496 https://mobile.twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/12838417952108... "Sometimes I wish I was a mediocre white man so that I could coast as CTO of a multi-billion dollar company." and RTing Jason Warner. I don't know him personally, but from what I heard, Mr. Warner is most likely extremely good at understanding and planning complex distributed software systems. And if I was him, I'd then feel slightly offended to be called "mediocre white man". I understand that I'll most likely get downvoted into oblivion for this comment, because I'm not supporting the person claiming minority discrimination here. (Or else there would be little reason for her to reduce the GitHub CTO to his male and white attributes.) But just in case there's anyone here considering something similar, let me advise you that insulting your boss in public (no matter which gender or skin color) is probably never the right move of you want a better job offer from them.

acemarke 6y ago
Per her prior tweets, she already left NPM/MS along with several others who were let go / pushed out. So, "past CTO", not "future". https://twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/1283836780110848000 https://twitter.com/nomadtechie/status/1283836780110848000 > I was already part of a layoff round at the end of March. They forced a layoffs on a third of the company - it also disproportionately affected people of color, ex all 5 black engineers were laid off. So this incident is happening to the remaining folks now. Very sad.
- fxtentacle 6y ago
  Fair point, but would you want to hire someone who has a history of taking bad about previous employers? For me, that would set off the same red flags as someone who won't stop complaining about their horrible ex relationships...
  - acemarke 6y ago
    full disclosure: I've met Amal at a couple conferences and talked to her a few times, but don't claim to know her extremely well. I have no particular reason to doubt the factual claims she's made so far (NPM employees laid off / pushed out due to COLA salary drops). Given that, I would say her resulting statements are pretty justified. I've never been in a hiring position, so I can't speculate on how that would make me view things from that angle.
sushid 6y ago
It looks like the tweet was made by an ex-NPM employee that was laid off in March. And looking further, it looks like the pay reduction is happening to some non-US employees as a part of a their COLA adjustment.
- fxtentacle 6y ago
  While I personally believe cost is living adjustments to be morally questionable, one might as well argue that people of similar skill level should enjoy a similar level of living comfort. And the latter would imply that people in expensive areas need to receive more money for the same job. But overall, this post to me illustrates why a company is better off cleanly firing past employees after a tech acquisition instead of trying to integrate them into the new company structure. Trying to treat your employees nicely opens you up to more criticism than firing them (as they fear and expect).
- darkarmani 6y ago
  So they were living in low cost geographic region making bay area salary? What do you think would happen if you got acquired and they were over-paying you at 2x? Be thankful you were raking in the money before.
jdxcode 6y ago
> I don't know him personally, but from what I heard, Mr. Warner is most likely extremely good at understanding and planning complex distributed software systems. I worked under him as an IC for a few years at Heroku. I'd certainly agree with that statement.

bdcravens 6y ago

I don't know the circumstances, but if a company is paying well above the market (I've been a recipient of such good fortune before), what are the odds of retaining that in an acquisition?

jdxcode 6y ago
I feel the likely outcome is that you just wouldn't get a raise for a while

chrisbennet 6y ago

Is working 50% less an option? :-)