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I would estimate that well over half of Silicon Valley engineers are foreign born. If you add the non local US engineers, you are probably at over 90%. Those e

by babesh 5y ago

I would estimate that well over half of Silicon Valley engineers are foreign born. If you add the non local US engineers, you are probably at over 90%. Those equally or more qualified overseas people working for little were in short supply. Why would they work for you for pennies when they could move to Silicon Valley, make tons more, and have potential for much, much more? With remote work, what makes you think that the market will be inefficient? The overseas equally or more qualified will demand more money and look for more opportunities. These companies that adjust pay based on location remind me of the wage fixing scheme led by Steve Jobs. Once Mark Zuckerberg refused to play along, compensation exploded. Companies that pay the best for remote workers will have their pick of the best.

masterof0 5y ago
> Why would they work for you for pennies when they could move to Silicon Valley, make tons more, and have potential for much, much more? Who says all talented engineers overseas can come to the US? There is a huge amount of QA companies in Ukraine that contract their service to the west, for example, can they come to the US? I doubt it. Overseas workers don't get the chance to make demands, US companies have leverage over them. Because there are way more talented engineers than high paying jobs. I have you seen how much people get paid in toptal, and other online contractor companies?
- babesh 5y ago
  I am saying that the US was already playing the pick the cream of the crop game. It was playing it in two ways. First it identified obvious talent (math Olympiads, etc...). Second, the people who were the most driven got to Silicon Valley by any means necessary, showing tremendous grit. Examples: former boss's family got out of Russia, had guns pointed at them on the way to the airport coworker who got an H1-B, was desperate to get out of Russia, we found him because a product he was working on was exceptional several coworkers from other countries that were math or computer science olympiads btw these people end up in American colleges as undergrads or grads
- babesh 5y ago
  Also, there/are were other tech centers that proved just as if not more attractive than Silicon Valley. Over 10 years ago, I had a coworker who remarked that all her classmates who stayed in China had become rich. She said that it was because it was an open field. All you had to do was take a proven American concept and apply it to China. Since there was no existing infrastructure or competition, you had the whole market to yourself. This wasn't just applicable to tech. People were doing things like opening coffee shops (queue the Luckin Coffee fraud 10 years later). Also, look at Spotify, JetBrains, WhatsApp, and Shopify.

by babesh 5y ago

masterof0 5y ago

> Why would they work for you for pennies when they could move to Silicon Valley, make tons more, and have potential for much, much more? Who says all talented engineers overseas can come to the US? There is a huge amount of QA companies in Ukraine that contract their service to the west, for example, can they come to the US? I doubt it. Overseas workers don't get the chance to make demands, US companies have leverage over them. Because there are way more talented engineers than high paying jobs. I have you seen how much people get paid in toptal, and other online contractor companies?

babesh 5y ago
I am saying that the US was already playing the pick the cream of the crop game. It was playing it in two ways. First it identified obvious talent (math Olympiads, etc...). Second, the people who were the most driven got to Silicon Valley by any means necessary, showing tremendous grit. Examples: former boss's family got out of Russia, had guns pointed at them on the way to the airport coworker who got an H1-B, was desperate to get out of Russia, we found him because a product he was working on was exceptional several coworkers from other countries that were math or computer science olympiads btw these people end up in American colleges as undergrads or grads
babesh 5y ago
Also, there/are were other tech centers that proved just as if not more attractive than Silicon Valley. Over 10 years ago, I had a coworker who remarked that all her classmates who stayed in China had become rich. She said that it was because it was an open field. All you had to do was take a proven American concept and apply it to China. Since there was no existing infrastructure or competition, you had the whole market to yourself. This wasn't just applicable to tech. People were doing things like opening coffee shops (queue the Luckin Coffee fraud 10 years later). Also, look at Spotify, JetBrains, WhatsApp, and Shopify.