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I'm not cheering by any means. But the average individual salary at Twitter is ~39% higher than the average household income in the U.S.; the average salary of

I'm not cheering by any means. But the average individual salary at Twitter is ~39% higher than the average household income in the U.S.; the average salary of the folks HN relates to -- the tech team, the ally team, etc. -- is considerably higher. Totally agree our social safety nets aren't the strongest. But precisely because of that, people -- particularly higher earners -- have a responsibility to build their own padding for the inevitable short, sharp shocks to their livelihood. EDIT: I reflexively pulled Twitter numbers, but a quick glance shows the average FB salary is higher.

acdha 4y ago
One thing to consider: how much of that salary is going to the high cost of living in the Bay Area? The numbers are definitely higher but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the percentages of people who are n months away from needing to find another place to live – especially if that shock turns out to be sharper than it is short. I lived in San Diego in the mid-90s. One thing I remembered was that the very first job I had doing QA for a COBOL vendor at $15/hour had not just one but multiple applicants with doctorate degrees apply. That was fallout from the Cold War: they’d all worked for big defense contractors on projects which were scaled back, suddenly going from comfortably above average income to nothing. One of the things a bunch of people found out abruptly was how bad it can be to have a lot of your net worth tied up in housing: the market slowed dramatically (nobody needed houses near those employers, many people were waiting to see how the market went, etc.) for everyone at the same time, so a house you could easily have sold before would be on the market for a year. Things are better now in some key ways (remote work, portable skills, etc.) but I still would be surprised if a bunch of people aren’t getting a rough reminder about how badly correlated failures can suck, especially for the ones not making experienced software engineer salaries.

acdha 4y ago

One thing to consider: how much of that salary is going to the high cost of living in the Bay Area? The numbers are definitely higher but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the percentages of people who are n months away from needing to find another place to live – especially if that shock turns out to be sharper than it is short. I lived in San Diego in the mid-90s. One thing I remembered was that the very first job I had doing QA for a COBOL vendor at $15/hour had not just one but multiple applicants with doctorate degrees apply. That was fallout from the Cold War: they’d all worked for big defense contractors on projects which were scaled back, suddenly going from comfortably above average income to nothing. One of the things a bunch of people found out abruptly was how bad it can be to have a lot of your net worth tied up in housing: the market slowed dramatically (nobody needed houses near those employers, many people were waiting to see how the market went, etc.) for everyone at the same time, so a house you could easily have sold before would be on the market for a year. Things are better now in some key ways (remote work, portable skills, etc.) but I still would be surprised if a bunch of people aren’t getting a rough reminder about how badly correlated failures can suck, especially for the ones not making experienced software engineer salaries.