4 ms·

I think it's great that lifeguards are paid well but close to $400k a year? I know Cost of living in LA is outrageous but WOW. Teachers even in LA aren't makin

by jsharp 6y ago

I think it's great that lifeguards are paid well but close to $400k a year? I know Cost of living in LA is outrageous but WOW. Teachers even in LA aren't making 1/4 of that even at the top of their pay charts they'd be lucky to just touch $100k a year. We need good lifeguards, sure, but we don't need to pay them $300-400k a year...

throwaway44234 6y ago
> We need good lifeguards, sure, but we don't need to pay them $300-400k a year... I wonder, why does that apply to lifeguards but not to a FAANG employee?
- Snoozus 6y ago
  taxpayers money vs. sharehder money mostly
  - thisisnico 6y ago
    Also FAANG employee is paid according to value created, they'd have to create more value then they are paid otherwise they wouldn't be employed. Lifeguarding value is determined differently and is independent of pay.
  - mrweasel 6y ago
    Also lifeguards are viewed as an expense, who deliver no direct income to the city/county. A developer has his/her work translated into direct value to the company.
    - throwawayboise 6y ago
      > A developer has his/her work translated into direct value to the company. Only in companies whose product is software. In other companies, IT and in-house/backoffice software systems are a cost center, just like the accounting department.
- jsharp 6y ago
  Not trying to be a jerk, but basic supply and demand. There are literally millions of Americans who are able to perform the duties of a lifeguard. Millions more that could "manage" lifeguards. Having your job be spending most of your day on a beautiful beach in southern California? That's a dream to many people! I hearing on NPR (maybe This American Life?) about a lawyer who works full-time at his own firm during most of the year, but during the summer months goes on sabbatical to work as a lifeguard in the NY area. He's been doing this since he was a kid. Working as a lifeguard is his vacation! You can't say the same about a Google or Facebook engineer. There's only so many people that could do the job, and very few would consider it their "dream" to code all day for a giant corporation. No one would consider it a vacation! FWIW we should pay lifeguards a living wage! But $400k for an low-skill job that doesn't even require a high school education? Wow.
  - flr03 6y ago
    I don't think Lifeguard is a low-skill job, you need to be an extremely skilled swimmer. This is only achievable by learning and training from a very young age and being a minimum gifted for it.
    - dominotw 6y ago
      > This is only achievable by learning and training from a very young age and being a minimum gifted for it. I passed lifeguard certification in my twenties. I am not a 'gifted' swimmer and the first time I got into water was when I was ~14 yrs.
      - sosborn 6y ago
        Getting hired to guard a pool is a completely different experience than getting hired for a beach.
      - sjg007 6y ago
        Open ocean water certified?
      - 00117 6y ago
- renewiltord 6y ago
  Presumably because "we" aren't paying the FAANG employee.
gnopgnip 6y ago
That isn't really true, football coaches like Clay Helton and Justin Wilcox make over $3m each per year in LA area. Here is a list of all the head coach salaries in CA. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=head+coach&y= https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=head+co... Also this $400k number isn't really what they are paid, it includes benefits that don't directly affect take home pay that most people wouldn't include when talking about a jobs pay
Goosee 6y ago
Teachers in my school district in CA work schedules that rotate between 4 hour days & 6 hour days. At most that is 26 hours / week (MWF 6 hrs/day & TR 4 hrs/day). There is also the occasional teacher/department meeting, but the district shortens Wednesdays class schedule for the students & substitutes that time with a teacher on teacher meeting. In essence, teachers aren't working >30 hr a week. They get 2 weeks winter break, 1 week spring break, ~2.5 month summer, most every Monday holiday off. So they work about 9 months a year. On top of that, they receive the amazing lifetime CA Pension which is like 90% of your top 5 earning years. I looked up my teacher's salaries from high school. They make more than my CA public university STEM professors make. About 5 years into teaching, a high school teacher will make about 60k/year regular + 25k/year in benefits. Tenured will make 120k+ in base and benefits. That is pretty good for an average of 25 hour workweek, 9 months a year. Nothing stopping them getting another job that works between the hours of 3-10pm during the school year, putting them closer to the hours a GS analyst would work.
- jedberg 6y ago
  > Nothing stopping them getting another job that works between the hours of 3-10pm during the school year You don't think they just go home and do nothing at 3pm, do you? They still have to grade the work and plan the lessons. My wife was a teacher. She generally worked from 7:30am till 8pm, sometimes as late as 10pm. I would usually drop her off, go to my engineering job, and then go back to her school where I would spend a few hours hanging out helping her or working or watching TV while she kept working. And in the summer they spend a bunch of time prepping for the next year and learning new things at conferences. Anyone who thinks that teachers only work 25 hours a week 9 months a year are sorely mistaken. She definitely did more hours than I did at my engineering job, despite the fact that I made more than 4X her salary.
  - Goosee 6y ago
    It depends how teachers run their course. So many teachers transitioned to grading stuff strictly during class hours so they can dip faster than students could

by jsharp 6y ago

throwaway44234 6y ago

> We need good lifeguards, sure, but we don't need to pay them $300-400k a year... I wonder, why does that apply to lifeguards but not to a FAANG employee?

Snoozus 6y ago
taxpayers money vs. sharehder money mostly
- thisisnico 6y ago
  Also FAANG employee is paid according to value created, they'd have to create more value then they are paid otherwise they wouldn't be employed. Lifeguarding value is determined differently and is independent of pay.
- mrweasel 6y ago
  Also lifeguards are viewed as an expense, who deliver no direct income to the city/county. A developer has his/her work translated into direct value to the company.
  - throwawayboise 6y ago
    > A developer has his/her work translated into direct value to the company. Only in companies whose product is software. In other companies, IT and in-house/backoffice software systems are a cost center, just like the accounting department.
jsharp 6y ago
Not trying to be a jerk, but basic supply and demand. There are literally millions of Americans who are able to perform the duties of a lifeguard. Millions more that could "manage" lifeguards. Having your job be spending most of your day on a beautiful beach in southern California? That's a dream to many people! I hearing on NPR (maybe This American Life?) about a lawyer who works full-time at his own firm during most of the year, but during the summer months goes on sabbatical to work as a lifeguard in the NY area. He's been doing this since he was a kid. Working as a lifeguard is his vacation! You can't say the same about a Google or Facebook engineer. There's only so many people that could do the job, and very few would consider it their "dream" to code all day for a giant corporation. No one would consider it a vacation! FWIW we should pay lifeguards a living wage! But $400k for an low-skill job that doesn't even require a high school education? Wow.
- flr03 6y ago
  I don't think Lifeguard is a low-skill job, you need to be an extremely skilled swimmer. This is only achievable by learning and training from a very young age and being a minimum gifted for it.
  - dominotw 6y ago
    > This is only achievable by learning and training from a very young age and being a minimum gifted for it. I passed lifeguard certification in my twenties. I am not a 'gifted' swimmer and the first time I got into water was when I was ~14 yrs.
    - sosborn 6y ago
      Getting hired to guard a pool is a completely different experience than getting hired for a beach.
    - sjg007 6y ago
      Open ocean water certified?
    - 00117 6y ago
renewiltord 6y ago
Presumably because "we" aren't paying the FAANG employee.

gnopgnip 6y ago

That isn't really true, football coaches like Clay Helton and Justin Wilcox make over $3m each per year in LA area. Here is a list of all the head coach salaries in CA. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=head+coach&y= https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=head+co... Also this $400k number isn't really what they are paid, it includes benefits that don't directly affect take home pay that most people wouldn't include when talking about a jobs pay

Goosee 6y ago

Teachers in my school district in CA work schedules that rotate between 4 hour days & 6 hour days. At most that is 26 hours / week (MWF 6 hrs/day & TR 4 hrs/day). There is also the occasional teacher/department meeting, but the district shortens Wednesdays class schedule for the students & substitutes that time with a teacher on teacher meeting. In essence, teachers aren't working >30 hr a week. They get 2 weeks winter break, 1 week spring break, ~2.5 month summer, most every Monday holiday off. So they work about 9 months a year. On top of that, they receive the amazing lifetime CA Pension which is like 90% of your top 5 earning years. I looked up my teacher's salaries from high school. They make more than my CA public university STEM professors make. About 5 years into teaching, a high school teacher will make about 60k/year regular + 25k/year in benefits. Tenured will make 120k+ in base and benefits. That is pretty good for an average of 25 hour workweek, 9 months a year. Nothing stopping them getting another job that works between the hours of 3-10pm during the school year, putting them closer to the hours a GS analyst would work.

jedberg 6y ago
> Nothing stopping them getting another job that works between the hours of 3-10pm during the school year You don't think they just go home and do nothing at 3pm, do you? They still have to grade the work and plan the lessons. My wife was a teacher. She generally worked from 7:30am till 8pm, sometimes as late as 10pm. I would usually drop her off, go to my engineering job, and then go back to her school where I would spend a few hours hanging out helping her or working or watching TV while she kept working. And in the summer they spend a bunch of time prepping for the next year and learning new things at conferences. Anyone who thinks that teachers only work 25 hours a week 9 months a year are sorely mistaken. She definitely did more hours than I did at my engineering job, despite the fact that I made more than 4X her salary.
- Goosee 6y ago
  It depends how teachers run their course. So many teachers transitioned to grading stuff strictly during class hours so they can dip faster than students could