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Wikimedia HQ is in San Francisco. There are many 25 year old code monkeys here making more than the Wikimedia executive team. Sure, as of the last few years the

Wikimedia HQ is in San Francisco. There are many 25 year old code monkeys here making more than the Wikimedia executive team. Sure, as of the last few years the world has changed enough that I agree it makes sense for Wikimedia to defrag and go remote, but until COVID it made complete sense for a technology-focused nonprofit to make its HQ in the Bay Area. It still does, BTW - it's never as simple as just hiring a remote team in Poland or India to cut costs. I don't think it would be bad per-se for the CEO to make up to $1M or for senior individuals to be making over $300k, or even for line developers to make up to around $200k. That is the cost of doing business, and I don't think Wikimedia should have to pay employees far below market rates just because it's a non-profit. That said, I completely agree with you that Wikimedia is way overzealous in asking for donations and it's sickening how they make people think Wikimedia desperately needs the money to continue operating Wikipedia when they just don't. Wikimedia actually funds a lot of stuff that, as someone that mostly just cares about Wikipedia, seems completely unnecessary. I'd much rather they cut the fluff and stop freaking people out (maybe change their strategy to soliciting donations from whales or at least a less aggressive banner) but I'd have no problem if they raised individuals' comp, within reason.

_t4za 4y ago
> I completely agree with you that Wikimedia is way overzealous in asking for donations and it's sickening how they make people think Wikimedia desperately needs the money to continue operating Wikipedia when they just don't. Before going further, I want to say that you and I agree. I just want to add a bit more context to some of the details in your response. > Wikimedia HQ is in San Francisco. There are many 25 year old code monkeys here making more than the Wikimedia executive team. This is true, but most Wikimedia employees don't live in SF. This page[1] says that half of the people working on teams based in the SF office were actually working remotely, and this sentence was added to the page in 2018. > I don't think Wikimedia should have to pay employees far below market rates just because it's a non-profit. Unfortunately this is already true. It looks like the average salary for a senior software developer at WMF is 132k[2]. When you consider that up to half of the employees live in SF, that is far below market rate. 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_offices&diff=prev&oldid=17858253 2. https://www.levels.fyi/companies/wikimedia-foundation/salaries/software-engineer

_t4za 4y ago

> I completely agree with you that Wikimedia is way overzealous in asking for donations and it's sickening how they make people think Wikimedia desperately needs the money to continue operating Wikipedia when they just don't. Before going further, I want to say that you and I agree. I just want to add a bit more context to some of the details in your response. > Wikimedia HQ is in San Francisco. There are many 25 year old code monkeys here making more than the Wikimedia executive team. This is true, but most Wikimedia employees don't live in SF. This page[1] says that half of the people working on teams based in the SF office were actually working remotely, and this sentence was added to the page in 2018. > I don't think Wikimedia should have to pay employees far below market rates just because it's a non-profit. Unfortunately this is already true. It looks like the average salary for a senior software developer at WMF is 132k[2]. When you consider that up to half of the employees live in SF, that is far below market rate. 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_offices&diff=prev&oldid=17858253 2. https://www.levels.fyi/companies/wikimedia-foundation/salaries/software-engineer