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Blind self selects for people who want to brag about how much they're paid and people who think they're underpaid who want to validate those assumptions. It le

Blind self selects for people who want to brag about how much they're paid and people who think they're underpaid who want to validate those assumptions. It leads to a toxic community. There's so much more to work than compensation and this post proves it. Being on a good team is 100x more important than what you're paid. Good teams elevate engineers and give you a better career path in your future. I make SL level compensation and non-SL level companies because my value is high, not because my employer can overpay for mediocrity. There's too many engineers who think the secret to success is to get hired at the right company and then they just sail on to a dream career. I've worked with enough people from those big companies who left, some after long careers, to know that it's simply not true. A lot of people see the impactful work that happens at these big companies and assume that's the impact they'll make as well. What they don't get is those big companies literally poach PhDs or buy smaller companies to get that kind of talent.

ohgodplsno 4y ago
For many devs, especially non SV people (or even non US people), a TC of 250k+ is more than life changing. It's "I never could have ever gotten this, and not only is my life set, the people around me are too". Needless to say, if I was offered these compensations (or higher), I'll gladly take even 10 years of incompetence around me to then be able to do fuck all for the rest of my life (or, well, things I actually enjoy doing, not for a megacorporation). Being an elevated engineer doesn't pay the bills.
- morelandjs 4y ago
  Very true. Golden handcuffs is an option, but you can also just liberate yourself from financial stress and help the people around you who need it. Not everyone is chasing a BMW or bragging rights.
- yodsanklai 4y ago
  > a TC of 250k+ is more than life changing. It doesn't get you that far. Consider tax and cost of life in NYC/SF/London where you won't be able to buy a house anyway, and you're left with 50k to save a year. In other places, you're less likely to get such a TC. Sure, it's a lot of money, but not enough to change your social status. It adds up if you manage to stay long enough there, but considering ageism and burning out, you're not in the same leagues as let say doctors, or people who inherited 1 million after selling their parents house.
  - za3faran 4y ago
    How much do you think doctors make? Unless they specialize and spend another 5+ years pursuing it, they're in the 100K-250K range anyway depending on location.
    - sfashset 4y ago
      Sorry but you’re completely wrong about both your 5 years comment and your income range. For a more realistic look at physician income see https://www.offerdx.com/ https://www.offerdx.com/
      - djkivi 4y ago
        Family medicine $270k. Doesn’t seem that far off.
        yodsanklai 4y ago
        There are two big differences. Family doctor can work easily until 65. And they don't need to live in the most expensive cities in the world. For comparaison, there are extremely few SWEs in FAANG over 50 years old.
        hnfong 4y ago
        Extremely few? If the company only existed for less than 20 years and founded by a bunch of college dropouts, you wouldn't have many workers over 50. You're mistaking the exponential growth of the SWE "profession" with Ageism.
        yodsanklai 4y ago
        The company exists for less than 20 years and since then, they have hired 10000s of SWE. Their selection process is heavily biased toward younger people, and so is their performance evaluation process. Their demographic is totally not representative or the workforce, and it's not just a coincidence.
- wobbly_bush 4y ago
  That TC might be life changing if they earned that much in their current cities/towns. That TC would involve moving to SV and the associated costs of living in SV - specially housing.
22SAS 4y ago
>Blind self selects for people who want to brag about how much they're paid Spot on! It's a race for them to keep moving up the TC ladder and then show off within their social circles. Their all now on to the new fad i.e working at HFT firms. I work at one and the questions I see on Blind, regarding HFT's, is a source of constant laughter for those of us in the industry. Some great examples: "I have never written a line of production C++. If I do leetcode in C++ will that get me a job working on ultra low-latency systems?".
oreally 4y ago
It's the inner and dirtiest aspects of the software engineer ego. It's amazing how scummy and holier than thou people really are in private.

ohgodplsno 4y ago

For many devs, especially non SV people (or even non US people), a TC of 250k+ is more than life changing. It's "I never could have ever gotten this, and not only is my life set, the people around me are too". Needless to say, if I was offered these compensations (or higher), I'll gladly take even 10 years of incompetence around me to then be able to do fuck all for the rest of my life (or, well, things I actually enjoy doing, not for a megacorporation). Being an elevated engineer doesn't pay the bills.

morelandjs 4y ago
Very true. Golden handcuffs is an option, but you can also just liberate yourself from financial stress and help the people around you who need it. Not everyone is chasing a BMW or bragging rights.
yodsanklai 4y ago
> a TC of 250k+ is more than life changing. It doesn't get you that far. Consider tax and cost of life in NYC/SF/London where you won't be able to buy a house anyway, and you're left with 50k to save a year. In other places, you're less likely to get such a TC. Sure, it's a lot of money, but not enough to change your social status. It adds up if you manage to stay long enough there, but considering ageism and burning out, you're not in the same leagues as let say doctors, or people who inherited 1 million after selling their parents house.
- za3faran 4y ago
  How much do you think doctors make? Unless they specialize and spend another 5+ years pursuing it, they're in the 100K-250K range anyway depending on location.
  - sfashset 4y ago
    Sorry but you’re completely wrong about both your 5 years comment and your income range. For a more realistic look at physician income see https://www.offerdx.com/ https://www.offerdx.com/
    - djkivi 4y ago
      Family medicine $270k. Doesn’t seem that far off.
      - yodsanklai 4y ago
        There are two big differences. Family doctor can work easily until 65. And they don't need to live in the most expensive cities in the world. For comparaison, there are extremely few SWEs in FAANG over 50 years old.
        hnfong 4y ago
        Extremely few? If the company only existed for less than 20 years and founded by a bunch of college dropouts, you wouldn't have many workers over 50. You're mistaking the exponential growth of the SWE "profession" with Ageism.
        yodsanklai 4y ago
        The company exists for less than 20 years and since then, they have hired 10000s of SWE. Their selection process is heavily biased toward younger people, and so is their performance evaluation process. Their demographic is totally not representative or the workforce, and it's not just a coincidence.
wobbly_bush 4y ago
That TC might be life changing if they earned that much in their current cities/towns. That TC would involve moving to SV and the associated costs of living in SV - specially housing.

22SAS 4y ago

>Blind self selects for people who want to brag about how much they're paid Spot on! It's a race for them to keep moving up the TC ladder and then show off within their social circles. Their all now on to the new fad i.e working at HFT firms. I work at one and the questions I see on Blind, regarding HFT's, is a source of constant laughter for those of us in the industry. Some great examples: "I have never written a line of production C++. If I do leetcode in C++ will that get me a job working on ultra low-latency systems?".

oreally 4y ago

It's the inner and dirtiest aspects of the software engineer ego. It's amazing how scummy and holier than thou people really are in private.