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And with a BS in CS or Math what would you have made going to work for a FAANG? How do universities have all these endowments and not pay more? >> $16,800 Th

And with a BS in CS or Math what would you have made going to work for a FAANG? How do universities have all these endowments and not pay more? >> $16,800 This is like 5 weeks of work at minimum wage... You would have been better off with a side hustle at macdonalds. >> We need better PhD student and postdoc wages. Living wages would be a start, then better. EDIT: I fat fingered the 2... that was supposed to be 25... Do note that I live in CA so macdonalds is 20 bucks an hour now here.

lecunn 3y ago
5 weeks of work at minimum wage is nowhere near $16,800...
- silverquiet 3y ago
  "I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost? 10 dollars?" Some people live in a bubble.
- zer00eyz 3y ago
  I fat fingered the 2... that was supposed to be 25...
  - layer8 3y ago
    You should still be able to edit your comment.
  - Tadpole9181 3y ago
    Flip those numbers. That's a full year of minimum wage... 16,000 / 8 / 40.
cshimmin 3y ago
For postdocs (and often grad students), the universities aren't paying the wages, it's the research grants. In some cases, those are capped by the funding agencies. NIH in particular has rigid payscale guidelines for postdocs in the bio sciences, for example. You can find the list here [1]. A first-year postdoc makes $56k, and after seven (!) years they can make $68.5k. Also, a general rule of thumb is that postdocs and grad students cost the same! That's because whoever is paying the grad student (either a research grant or a department teaching stipend), also has to pay their "tuition", which basically doubles the cost. [1] https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/salary-cap-stipends https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/salary-cap-stipen...
- COGlory 3y ago
  In state tuition where I was rang up at about $3000/semester. It was waived by the school if you were a TA. If you were doing just research, it was paid out of the grant funds. Then I had to pay about $600 out of pocket on student fees per semester.
wlesieutre 3y ago
To make $16,800 in 5 weeks at 40 hours a week you'd need to be paid $84/hour
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
forgotmyinfo 3y ago
Not everybody can work at the same washed-up Silicon Valley panopticon providers, you know. Some people need to be, like, accountants and stuff.
COGlory 3y ago
That's actually just about a year at Federal minimum wage. In my case, I on-paper only worked 19 hours/week so they didn't have to pay me health insurance.
COGlory 3y ago
> And with a BS in CS or Math what would you have made going to work for a FAANG? To address this bit - the problem is (and I think you're actually trying to make this point) - we need biologists. We need physicists. We need material scientists. SaaS is sucking all the oxygen out of the room because the alternatives pay so much less. By the time this thing equilibrates, there will insufficient American institutional knowledge in core sciences.

lecunn 3y ago

5 weeks of work at minimum wage is nowhere near $16,800...

silverquiet 3y ago
"I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost? 10 dollars?" Some people live in a bubble.
zer00eyz 3y ago
I fat fingered the 2... that was supposed to be 25...
- layer8 3y ago
  You should still be able to edit your comment.
- Tadpole9181 3y ago
  Flip those numbers. That's a full year of minimum wage... 16,000 / 8 / 40.

cshimmin 3y ago

For postdocs (and often grad students), the universities aren't paying the wages, it's the research grants. In some cases, those are capped by the funding agencies. NIH in particular has rigid payscale guidelines for postdocs in the bio sciences, for example. You can find the list here [1]. A first-year postdoc makes $56k, and after seven (!) years they can make $68.5k. Also, a general rule of thumb is that postdocs and grad students cost the same! That's because whoever is paying the grad student (either a research grant or a department teaching stipend), also has to pay their "tuition", which basically doubles the cost. [1] https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/salary-cap-stipends https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/salary-cap-stipen...

COGlory 3y ago
In state tuition where I was rang up at about $3000/semester. It was waived by the school if you were a TA. If you were doing just research, it was paid out of the grant funds. Then I had to pay about $600 out of pocket on student fees per semester.

wlesieutre 3y ago

To make $16,800 in 5 weeks at 40 hours a week you'd need to be paid $84/hour

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

forgotmyinfo 3y ago

Not everybody can work at the same washed-up Silicon Valley panopticon providers, you know. Some people need to be, like, accountants and stuff.

COGlory 3y ago

That's actually just about a year at Federal minimum wage. In my case, I on-paper only worked 19 hours/week so they didn't have to pay me health insurance.

COGlory 3y ago

> And with a BS in CS or Math what would you have made going to work for a FAANG? To address this bit - the problem is (and I think you're actually trying to make this point) - we need biologists. We need physicists. We need material scientists. SaaS is sucking all the oxygen out of the room because the alternatives pay so much less. By the time this thing equilibrates, there will insufficient American institutional knowledge in core sciences.