3 ms·

Oh, and since he's a public employee, you can look up the current salary and history. https://hr.oregonstate.edu/sites/hr.oregonstate.edu/files/ercc/salary-rep

Oh, and since he's a public employee, you can look up the current salary and history. https://hr.oregonstate.edu/sites/hr.oregonstate.edu/files/ercc/salary-report/unclassified_output.pdf https://hr.oregonstate.edu/sites/hr.oregonstate.edu/files/er... https://www.openthebooks.com/oregon-state-employees/?F_Name_S=Albertson%20Lance&Year_S=0&F_FieldName_S=year&F_OrderBy_S=Ascending&Emp_S=Oregon%20State%20University https://www.openthebooks.com/oregon-state-employees/?F_Name_... I'll summarize it: $107k in 2017 and $124k in 2023. I don't know about you, but someone with 17 years experience could easily be making 2-5x that depending on the company and role.

klardotsh 1y ago
And it's $124k on the west coast, specifically western Oregon. Coastal PNW is notoriously expensive to live in - sure, Corvallis isn't Seattle, but it's not cheap, either. Folks like to balk at numbers when it comes to publicly (or FOSS-donation-ly) funded salaries, but also balk at tying context to those numbers. It happens almost every time anyone dares try to pay their bills on open-source work: a flame war over "you don't need that number, you could move to your parent's basement in Arkansas and survive on $20k instead!".
- chneu 1y ago
  I grew up near/around/in Corvallis. $124k is quite a bit there. Food is cheap, you can find pretty cheap land/realty, etc. Overall it's pretty reasonable. That said, $124k is not a lot for what Lance does.
  - klardotsh 1y ago
    Maybe it was at some point in the past? I have friends who currently live there and it does not sound cheap. Again - not Seattle bad, maybe not even Bellingham bad, but still not "124 is quite a bit" levels (from the sounds of it). Regardless, we can definitely agree: Lance could be making a ton more elsewhere, but is a saint who cares about his work, and I appreciate his dedication!
readingnews 1y ago
I have indeed lived life wrong. I work in HPC as a Systems Engineer (right now, in 2025, with graduate degrees in engineering, and 25 years of systems admin / engineering experience) and do not make what this person made in 2017, much less in 2025, OR 2-5x that amount for that matter (total dream salary, geez)... at one time I was the data center manager and teaching CS classes, at the same time, working 80 hours a week. How the heck do these people secure these high paying jobs? There is some club, and I am not in it. Sorry to rant, but that 1FTE salary is huge.
- sciurus 1y ago
  Take a look at salary reports from places like https://www.levels.fyi/2024 https://www.levels.fyi/2024 If you think $124k a year is high compensation for someone with 17 years of experience in Portland, your compensation expectations are way off.
  - readingnews 1y ago
    Wow, I read your informative link. Where are these jobs? I went through a round of interviews last year for Sr. positions, across a number of locations in the U.S., and quite frankly, the average salary for the positions interviewed for was $80k less than most of those in the list, and $230k less than the SWE manager in the list.
    - WildRyc 1y ago
      The page lists the locations, and the businesses, where these jobs are placed. Unless you live on the coast (or end up in Denver/Austin), you're going to have a harder time reaching these salary numbers.
  - happyopossum 1y ago
    > in Portland Corvallis

klardotsh 1y ago

And it's $124k on the west coast, specifically western Oregon. Coastal PNW is notoriously expensive to live in - sure, Corvallis isn't Seattle, but it's not cheap, either. Folks like to balk at numbers when it comes to publicly (or FOSS-donation-ly) funded salaries, but also balk at tying context to those numbers. It happens almost every time anyone dares try to pay their bills on open-source work: a flame war over "you don't need that number, you could move to your parent's basement in Arkansas and survive on $20k instead!".

chneu 1y ago
I grew up near/around/in Corvallis. $124k is quite a bit there. Food is cheap, you can find pretty cheap land/realty, etc. Overall it's pretty reasonable. That said, $124k is not a lot for what Lance does.
- klardotsh 1y ago
  Maybe it was at some point in the past? I have friends who currently live there and it does not sound cheap. Again - not Seattle bad, maybe not even Bellingham bad, but still not "124 is quite a bit" levels (from the sounds of it). Regardless, we can definitely agree: Lance could be making a ton more elsewhere, but is a saint who cares about his work, and I appreciate his dedication!

readingnews 1y ago

I have indeed lived life wrong. I work in HPC as a Systems Engineer (right now, in 2025, with graduate degrees in engineering, and 25 years of systems admin / engineering experience) and do not make what this person made in 2017, much less in 2025, OR 2-5x that amount for that matter (total dream salary, geez)... at one time I was the data center manager and teaching CS classes, at the same time, working 80 hours a week. How the heck do these people secure these high paying jobs? There is some club, and I am not in it. Sorry to rant, but that 1FTE salary is huge.

sciurus 1y ago
Take a look at salary reports from places like https://www.levels.fyi/2024 https://www.levels.fyi/2024 If you think $124k a year is high compensation for someone with 17 years of experience in Portland, your compensation expectations are way off.
- readingnews 1y ago
  Wow, I read your informative link. Where are these jobs? I went through a round of interviews last year for Sr. positions, across a number of locations in the U.S., and quite frankly, the average salary for the positions interviewed for was $80k less than most of those in the list, and $230k less than the SWE manager in the list.
  - WildRyc 1y ago
    The page lists the locations, and the businesses, where these jobs are placed. Unless you live on the coast (or end up in Denver/Austin), you're going to have a harder time reaching these salary numbers.
- happyopossum 1y ago
  > in Portland Corvallis