5 ms·

They already are. Engineer gets paid $200k so the company can make $20M. Sound fair right?

xyzelement 3y ago
It does sound fair, the engineer also gets paid $200k if the product ends up going nowhere, so he doesn't bear the risk. The company also provides lots of things to enable that "20M" to be generated that the engineer doesn't provide, such as sales, distribution, etc etc etc etc.
- eek2121 3y ago
  Book publishers also don’t make much if the book doesn’t sell. Most technology companies wouldn’t exist without developers.
  - xyzelement 3y ago
    // Most technology companies wouldn’t exist without developers. Hence they pay to hire them, as evidenced by the $200K dev in the prior post. I don't get your point.
  - thfuran 3y ago
    Yes, and writers tend to be paid advances much less than a dev salary.
    - cgriswald 3y ago
      Writers never have to pay back that advance, however. They just don't get paid from sales until the sales cover the advance. If the book doesn't sell, they still keep the advance.
HPsquared 3y ago
Lots of things are "necessary but not sufficient" for the company to make the $20M. For example they wouldn't have made any money without electricity, should the power company get paid more just because of what someone did with their electricity?
Aunche 3y ago
On the other hand, sometimes the engineer gets paid $200k while the company makes -$20M.
nrdvana 3y ago
Rarely does a company make 20M off the work of one engineer. Every 4-5 engineers is another 1M expense, nevermind the other employee salaries. I get kind of annoyed when people look at large aggregate numbers and complain about how different they are from the individual employee pay. Even CEO pay - if they took the entire bonus given to the General Motors CEO and divided it among every employee in the company, it would come out to something smaller than their Christmas bonus. I do think CEOs are generally overpaid and under-liable, but it's not like the CEO salary is directly responsible for workers missing out on the highlife.

It does sound fair, the engineer also gets paid $200k if the product ends up going nowhere, so he doesn't bear the risk. The company also provides lots of things to enable that "20M" to be generated that the engineer doesn't provide, such as sales, distribution, etc etc etc etc.

eek2121 3y ago
Book publishers also don’t make much if the book doesn’t sell. Most technology companies wouldn’t exist without developers.
- xyzelement 3y ago
  // Most technology companies wouldn’t exist without developers. Hence they pay to hire them, as evidenced by the $200K dev in the prior post. I don't get your point.
- thfuran 3y ago
  Yes, and writers tend to be paid advances much less than a dev salary.
  - cgriswald 3y ago
    Writers never have to pay back that advance, however. They just don't get paid from sales until the sales cover the advance. If the book doesn't sell, they still keep the advance.

HPsquared 3y ago

Lots of things are "necessary but not sufficient" for the company to make the $20M. For example they wouldn't have made any money without electricity, should the power company get paid more just because of what someone did with their electricity?

Aunche 3y ago

On the other hand, sometimes the engineer gets paid $200k while the company makes -$20M.

nrdvana 3y ago

Rarely does a company make 20M off the work of one engineer. Every 4-5 engineers is another 1M expense, nevermind the other employee salaries. I get kind of annoyed when people look at large aggregate numbers and complain about how different they are from the individual employee pay. Even CEO pay - if they took the entire bonus given to the General Motors CEO and divided it among every employee in the company, it would come out to something smaller than their Christmas bonus. I do think CEOs are generally overpaid and under-liable, but it's not like the CEO salary is directly responsible for workers missing out on the highlife.