4 ms·

Something dramatic is going to have to happen for SWE salaries to drop significantly. I have a feeling if SWEs take a 20%+ haircut on salaries things are going

Something dramatic is going to have to happen for SWE salaries to drop significantly. I have a feeling if SWEs take a 20%+ haircut on salaries things are going to be absolutely abysmal for people in other roles.

throw_nbvc1234 4y ago
What time scale are you thinking of? Short-term 20% haircut seems inevitable compared to 1-2 years ago with the caveat that nothing may be forcing you to sell any vested RSUs.
jazzkingrt 4y ago
Many of us have already dealt with a 20% haircut, at least on the RSU portion of compensation. * Higher cost of borrowing is putting pressure on growth companies that relied on cheap capital * Economic downturn makes it harder to do business and lowers stock prices, which makes up a big part of any 400K SWE package * Tech companies can allow RSU grants to expire rather than implementing formal paycuts. Whereas companies in other sectors might lay off 5% of the workforce before giving everyone a 5% paycut, we may see a different trend in tech.
- digianarchist 4y ago
  My RSUs are down 70% from their post IPO peak.
  - 11101010001100 4y ago
    question: is it illegal to setup a hedging instrument for this sort of thing?
    - digianarchist 4y ago
      Illegal? Not sure. I'm forbidden from shorting our own stock by internal policy.
    - jedberg 4y ago
      It's illegal for officers and directors to short their own stock. It's not technically illegal for any other employee. That being said I've never seen a company that allows it in their company policy. Every company I've seen forbids it to eliminate the appearance of unethical behavior.
curiousllama 4y ago
> I have a feeling if SWEs take a 20%+ haircut on salaries things are going to be absolutely abysmal for people in other roles. Other roles have more direct analogues in other industries that keep compensation stickier. Eg, corporate finance/strategy/legal/etc can just transition industries pretty cleanly, with similar comp. They get paid less in the good times, true, but if the downturn is concentrated in tech, other companies would still be happy to have them.

throw_nbvc1234 4y ago

What time scale are you thinking of? Short-term 20% haircut seems inevitable compared to 1-2 years ago with the caveat that nothing may be forcing you to sell any vested RSUs.

jazzkingrt 4y ago

Many of us have already dealt with a 20% haircut, at least on the RSU portion of compensation. * Higher cost of borrowing is putting pressure on growth companies that relied on cheap capital * Economic downturn makes it harder to do business and lowers stock prices, which makes up a big part of any 400K SWE package * Tech companies can allow RSU grants to expire rather than implementing formal paycuts. Whereas companies in other sectors might lay off 5% of the workforce before giving everyone a 5% paycut, we may see a different trend in tech.

digianarchist 4y ago
My RSUs are down 70% from their post IPO peak.
- 11101010001100 4y ago
  question: is it illegal to setup a hedging instrument for this sort of thing?
  - digianarchist 4y ago
    Illegal? Not sure. I'm forbidden from shorting our own stock by internal policy.
  - jedberg 4y ago
    It's illegal for officers and directors to short their own stock. It's not technically illegal for any other employee. That being said I've never seen a company that allows it in their company policy. Every company I've seen forbids it to eliminate the appearance of unethical behavior.

curiousllama 4y ago

> I have a feeling if SWEs take a 20%+ haircut on salaries things are going to be absolutely abysmal for people in other roles. Other roles have more direct analogues in other industries that keep compensation stickier. Eg, corporate finance/strategy/legal/etc can just transition industries pretty cleanly, with similar comp. They get paid less in the good times, true, but if the downturn is concentrated in tech, other companies would still be happy to have them.