3 ms·

To me this translates to "it's worth it to pay somebody $300k/yr - $1m/yr because companies can earn X% ROI on their cost of employees" but and I just struggle

To me this translates to "it's worth it to pay somebody $300k/yr - $1m/yr because companies can earn X% ROI on their cost of employees" but and I just struggle to believe where... from what I understand, there are like people who assemble iPhones for very very low cost in Asia, etc. Now I'm not saying iPhone assembly and architecting cloud computing are the same skillset. I just find it "unlikely" that America really has that large of a quality gap internationally? I work for a company that has a remote team of developers in Shanghai. I don't know for sure but I'm going to guess they do the same work/probably better work than the US team for less pay.

vlovich123 3y ago
They are probably closer when evaporated as a % based on the amount of value and profit in the supply chain that is being extracted. People making iPhones are working for companies that have their margins squeezed to razor thin margins so that Apple can make its 30% cut. The other thing is the amount of skill required. There are more people who can be hired to assemble iPhones than to design all the parts that go into the product. Finally, there’s an arbitrage effect going on. A company can more easily go into a low CoL and pay the predominate local wage than a person from a low CoL can move to a high CoL and get paid a fair wage (aside from legal barriers there are also social ones involved with leaving your family)
aprilthird2021 3y ago
The money creates a bigger quality gap. At Meta's US offices, most devs are foreign origin. They moved for the money. So those devs wouldn't just accept paltry sums if Meta hired them overseas and they didn't need to come to the US to work. But Meta would have added friction the more and more of their teams are separate from product owners and business owners.
gedy 3y ago
It's likely not based on logical accounting and counting every dollar - just like how companies blow money on fancy buildings or projects they know will likely be cancelled or never go anywhere.
adw 3y ago
America’s superpower is immigration. The core teams at the biggest and best players are recruited globally; the high end of software engineering is, economically, the NFL or the Premier League.

vlovich123 3y ago

They are probably closer when evaporated as a % based on the amount of value and profit in the supply chain that is being extracted. People making iPhones are working for companies that have their margins squeezed to razor thin margins so that Apple can make its 30% cut. The other thing is the amount of skill required. There are more people who can be hired to assemble iPhones than to design all the parts that go into the product. Finally, there’s an arbitrage effect going on. A company can more easily go into a low CoL and pay the predominate local wage than a person from a low CoL can move to a high CoL and get paid a fair wage (aside from legal barriers there are also social ones involved with leaving your family)

aprilthird2021 3y ago

The money creates a bigger quality gap. At Meta's US offices, most devs are foreign origin. They moved for the money. So those devs wouldn't just accept paltry sums if Meta hired them overseas and they didn't need to come to the US to work. But Meta would have added friction the more and more of their teams are separate from product owners and business owners.

gedy 3y ago

It's likely not based on logical accounting and counting every dollar - just like how companies blow money on fancy buildings or projects they know will likely be cancelled or never go anywhere.

adw 3y ago

America’s superpower is immigration. The core teams at the biggest and best players are recruited globally; the high end of software engineering is, economically, the NFL or the Premier League.