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Is it normal in other industries to work on one product for a few years, then switch and work on something totally different, and then switch again a couple of
by mrwh 6y ago
Is it normal in other industries to work on one product for a few years, then switch and work on something totally different, and then switch again a couple of years later? That's a normal pattern at a FAANG - Google explicitly tries to hire generalists for example. If I am working in one thing today, it's easy to jump ship and work on something else tomorrow. That's a lot of power that employees in other industries don't have, or don't have to the same extent.
(The other answer to the problem is that looking outside of the upper-tech bubble programmers aren't particularly well paid at all. But the linked article does make a decent case that there's a real mystery here.)
- mrwh 6y agoJust to follow up on this: the problem is not Why is there so much money sloshing around in tech (that's obvious!), it's, Why are tech workers somehow getting a decent slice of it?
- mattnewton 6y agoMy guess? Because tech companies have small enough startup costs outside the employees that they can credibly leave to start their own company. (And there is enough market demand where they could succeed, unlike some field like Law where it’s true the fixed costs are all lawyers and what they know, but your case record and prestige sets the demand)
- mrwh 6y agoI think that's probably a big part of it - and certainly in Silicon Valley. Part of the whole idea of the place. It might not require that much extra power on the side of labor (which this is) to create a large effect.
- higerordermap 6y agoBecause C-suites end up getting most money in any industry.
- wilsynet 6y agoSeems pretty normal. Every few years Ford has new cars, Frito Lay has new flavors of chips, Coca-Cola markets new drinks, Corning has a more resilient glass, and Taylor Swift has a new album.