4 ms·

Maybe I'm the old man in the room, but I worked for non-tech companies for the first twenty years of my career. No promotions, no perks and no real change in b

by teach 3y ago

Maybe I'm the old man in the room, but I worked for non-tech companies for the first twenty years of my career. No promotions, no perks and no real change in benefits is the norm for the vast majority of American workers. What's wrong with getting paid a reasonable amount of money for a career you enjoy and are good at?

hobs 3y ago
The fact that the ownership is capturing a huge multiple of your effort and you could go somewhere else to capture more of the money you create? Let's invert it - why should I just make my boss more money forever while I get the same cut?
- JacobThreeThree 3y ago
  >Let's invert it - why should I just make my boss more money forever while I get the same cut? It sounds like you're assuming OP is getting a small cut. What if his salary is generous and there's a profit sharing bonus pool every year? The idea that in every career one needs to be continuously promoted to new positions doesn't make a whole lot of sense in my opinion.
  - teach 3y ago
    Nailed it. In fact, individual contributor salaries were public and constituted ~80% of the company's entire annual budget. Rent, utilities and all management salaries were contained in the remaining 20%.
    - hobs 3y ago
      And how much was... profit? When you say budget that's not directly tied to the revenues of the company, that's just the amount they decide to spend this year.
      - teach 3y ago
        Ha, it was a non-profit, so... zero. We didn't sell anything so we didn't have any revenue.
  - hobs 3y ago
    Well, then the OP is among one of the very few people that couldn't find a better job for the position. In my experience I have had 22 jobs in my life, half software, half not - every time I asked for a raise and even got a good one it was never more than 9% in a specific position, in moving positions I have received over 100% multiple times. There was no such thing as profit sharing, I was seriously underpaid many times. There was 401k matching at best, and anywhere that offered stock basically went bust or used means to ensure they never paid it. Ultimately I would love to stay somewhere that paid me well and treated me well, but getting both for a steady period is hard!
toomuchtodo 3y ago
You valued your time differently than others value theirs. Every hour you’re paid for is an hour of life you’ll never get back. Comfortable gig with adequate comp for some, “fuck you pay me” for others. We’re all replaceable, and you never know when you’ll run out of time and be unemployable (through no fault of your own). Maybe people just learned being reasonable got them nowhere. Sometimes it does, but not most of the time. I assure you estimated attrition rates and compensation controls are built into spreadsheets somewhere. I’ve seen such artifacts at more than one org.

by teach 3y ago

hobs 3y ago

The fact that the ownership is capturing a huge multiple of your effort and you could go somewhere else to capture more of the money you create? Let's invert it - why should I just make my boss more money forever while I get the same cut?

JacobThreeThree 3y ago
>Let's invert it - why should I just make my boss more money forever while I get the same cut? It sounds like you're assuming OP is getting a small cut. What if his salary is generous and there's a profit sharing bonus pool every year? The idea that in every career one needs to be continuously promoted to new positions doesn't make a whole lot of sense in my opinion.
- teach 3y ago
  Nailed it. In fact, individual contributor salaries were public and constituted ~80% of the company's entire annual budget. Rent, utilities and all management salaries were contained in the remaining 20%.
  - hobs 3y ago
    And how much was... profit? When you say budget that's not directly tied to the revenues of the company, that's just the amount they decide to spend this year.
    - teach 3y ago
      Ha, it was a non-profit, so... zero. We didn't sell anything so we didn't have any revenue.
- hobs 3y ago
  Well, then the OP is among one of the very few people that couldn't find a better job for the position. In my experience I have had 22 jobs in my life, half software, half not - every time I asked for a raise and even got a good one it was never more than 9% in a specific position, in moving positions I have received over 100% multiple times. There was no such thing as profit sharing, I was seriously underpaid many times. There was 401k matching at best, and anywhere that offered stock basically went bust or used means to ensure they never paid it. Ultimately I would love to stay somewhere that paid me well and treated me well, but getting both for a steady period is hard!

toomuchtodo 3y ago

You valued your time differently than others value theirs. Every hour you’re paid for is an hour of life you’ll never get back. Comfortable gig with adequate comp for some, “fuck you pay me” for others. We’re all replaceable, and you never know when you’ll run out of time and be unemployable (through no fault of your own). Maybe people just learned being reasonable got them nowhere. Sometimes it does, but not most of the time. I assure you estimated attrition rates and compensation controls are built into spreadsheets somewhere. I’ve seen such artifacts at more than one org.