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If anything I think those being laid off right now will be sought after in areas that want tech sector quality but have not been able pay tech sector wages. Gov

If anything I think those being laid off right now will be sought after in areas that want tech sector quality but have not been able pay tech sector wages. Government jobs, education, nonprofits, all have lots of openings right now.

sublinear 4y ago
There's also a very long tail of businesses that are not "big tech", but still have significant IT departments and pay well for "boring" work.
- hd95489 4y ago
  Expect they don’t pay all that well. Just ok ish
- dieselgate 4y ago
  That's my impression as well. I don't understand the perspective of "is software engineering over because I can't make a quarter million base salary anymore?". I've always preferred smaller companies and never wanted to work at a large tech company - don't foresee much change in my future unless I willingly change industries for personal reasons
  - sublinear 4y ago
    Yeah I mean what's so bad about half that pay and living somewhere affordable?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
agentwiggles 4y ago
I have trouble buying this, having seen the salaries being offered by local government agencies looking for devs. I guess if the layoffs depress wages across the board some of it might start to look a _little_ more reasonable, but even in a market that's nowhere near the insanity of big tech salaries, the government salaries on offer are laughably low.
- nicenewtemp84 4y ago
  I know people that work in tech at decent companies that can't buy a house. Every non major metro area mechanic, school teacher, city employee I know has a nice home. People should really consider doing lower paying boring work in places your mortgage can be $2000 a month.
  - throwaway4aday 4y ago
    Yikes, even $2k is a lot more than what I'm paying. Living in a city has its benefits but RIP bank account.
  - Loughla 4y ago
    >places your mortgage can be $2000 a month. This is shockingly major metro-area-centric. I want you to know that, and I feel like people on this board really need to understand how HIGH urban and suburban costs are. In many areas of the country, $2000/month is a seriously frighteningly massive home. For reference - in the middle of rural flyover, our 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 1800 square foot, full basement, 2 car garage, 1100 square foot full workshop home mortgage is 15 years at $750/month. We pay that, plus another $400 /month for the 70 acres the home sits on as well.
    - solarmist 4y ago
      I don’t think that’s still true. In Spokane, WA 10-15 years ago you could get starter homes for under $100k. Now that price is at least $300k (after cooling off for the last 12 months). If interest rates hadn’t risen it might be somewhere in between though.
      - brightsize 4y ago
        My 1911, 3br/1ba in-city Spokane house cost me about $90K in 2003, currently appraised+taxed at around $300K as you say. I've no idea how ordinary people [that is, those w/o high incomes and/or high levels of wealth], and especially renters, are getting by. From what I read in it the local forums and see at the food bank every week, a lot aren't getting by.
MuffinFlavored 4y ago
I have a friend who is basically an extremely "toxic capitalist" (to put it simply). He "called" that it wouldn't last that a lot of people were making "big" tech money + not really working 8 hours a day. Maybe that's what this whole "big tech layoff" is. A reset to lower overheated wages. Make 500,000 unemployed programmers compete for paycuts.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- vbordo 4y ago
  Not quite sure why you're getting downvoted. Might be due to your friend's unsubstantiated claim tech workers (on average) are overpaid while underdelivering. However, the core observation is reasonable. Layoffs create desperation in the labor pool which is likely to drive median tech wages down. This benefits companies opex long-term as they restart the hiring cycle over the next couple quarters. Doubtful we're seeing market-wide collusion on these layoffs but it certainly creates an institutional hiring advantage.
  - bunbunbun 4y ago
    Agreed but also it’s weird how a lot of lay-off %s are 7% +\-1 though?
    - MuffinFlavored 4y ago
      It's like one CEO did it and it opened the door for it to be socially acceptable climate wise for everybody to follow suit.
      - bunbunbun 4y ago
        So, a fad?
        MuffinFlavored 4y ago

sublinear 4y ago

There's also a very long tail of businesses that are not "big tech", but still have significant IT departments and pay well for "boring" work.

hd95489 4y ago
Expect they don’t pay all that well. Just ok ish
dieselgate 4y ago
That's my impression as well. I don't understand the perspective of "is software engineering over because I can't make a quarter million base salary anymore?". I've always preferred smaller companies and never wanted to work at a large tech company - don't foresee much change in my future unless I willingly change industries for personal reasons
- sublinear 4y ago
  Yeah I mean what's so bad about half that pay and living somewhere affordable?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

agentwiggles 4y ago

I have trouble buying this, having seen the salaries being offered by local government agencies looking for devs. I guess if the layoffs depress wages across the board some of it might start to look a _little_ more reasonable, but even in a market that's nowhere near the insanity of big tech salaries, the government salaries on offer are laughably low.

nicenewtemp84 4y ago
I know people that work in tech at decent companies that can't buy a house. Every non major metro area mechanic, school teacher, city employee I know has a nice home. People should really consider doing lower paying boring work in places your mortgage can be $2000 a month.
- throwaway4aday 4y ago
  Yikes, even $2k is a lot more than what I'm paying. Living in a city has its benefits but RIP bank account.
- Loughla 4y ago
  >places your mortgage can be $2000 a month. This is shockingly major metro-area-centric. I want you to know that, and I feel like people on this board really need to understand how HIGH urban and suburban costs are. In many areas of the country, $2000/month is a seriously frighteningly massive home. For reference - in the middle of rural flyover, our 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 1800 square foot, full basement, 2 car garage, 1100 square foot full workshop home mortgage is 15 years at $750/month. We pay that, plus another $400 /month for the 70 acres the home sits on as well.
  - solarmist 4y ago
    I don’t think that’s still true. In Spokane, WA 10-15 years ago you could get starter homes for under $100k. Now that price is at least $300k (after cooling off for the last 12 months). If interest rates hadn’t risen it might be somewhere in between though.
    - brightsize 4y ago
      My 1911, 3br/1ba in-city Spokane house cost me about $90K in 2003, currently appraised+taxed at around $300K as you say. I've no idea how ordinary people [that is, those w/o high incomes and/or high levels of wealth], and especially renters, are getting by. From what I read in it the local forums and see at the food bank every week, a lot aren't getting by.

MuffinFlavored 4y ago

I have a friend who is basically an extremely "toxic capitalist" (to put it simply). He "called" that it wouldn't last that a lot of people were making "big" tech money + not really working 8 hours a day. Maybe that's what this whole "big tech layoff" is. A reset to lower overheated wages. Make 500,000 unemployed programmers compete for paycuts.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
vbordo 4y ago
Not quite sure why you're getting downvoted. Might be due to your friend's unsubstantiated claim tech workers (on average) are overpaid while underdelivering. However, the core observation is reasonable. Layoffs create desperation in the labor pool which is likely to drive median tech wages down. This benefits companies opex long-term as they restart the hiring cycle over the next couple quarters. Doubtful we're seeing market-wide collusion on these layoffs but it certainly creates an institutional hiring advantage.
- bunbunbun 4y ago
  Agreed but also it’s weird how a lot of lay-off %s are 7% +\-1 though?
  - MuffinFlavored 4y ago
    It's like one CEO did it and it opened the door for it to be socially acceptable climate wise for everybody to follow suit.
    - bunbunbun 4y ago
      So, a fad?
      - MuffinFlavored 4y ago