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This is exactly what's wrong with comments on the internet and it makes me mad to see it! Someone makes an argument, then someone else comes and derails the con

This is exactly what's wrong with comments on the internet and it makes me mad to see it! Someone makes an argument, then someone else comes and derails the conversation by nitpicking at random stuff just to one-up the person instead of focusing on the overall argument and doing the least bit of reading between the lines. What the author is doing is called "pulling numbers out of your ass". Whether it's 5% or 6% really doesn't matter! He's making a point. You get the point, don't you? His main argument is "You can do whatever you want, the ball is in your hands--not your employers." And this is absolutely true! Any engineer with a bit of people skills and some self-respect (which is like only half of us) can get his/her way. The other half need some personal development before they'll get anywhere in life. It's the sad truth of engineering. The thing is, what each person wants is different. If you want work-life balance, go work for a 100-person revenue-generating startup. They go home at 5pm. If you want to build your personal brand or get rich, go put in the crazy hours at the latest hot big startup that's trying to prove itself.

7Figures2Commas 13y ago
Apparently you didn't read my comment because the point was very clear: engineers cannot do whatever they want and expect to take advantage of the currently hot job market. The author suggested that the average twenty-something engineer in Silicon Valley was in a far higher echelon of earners than is actually the case. Without any confirmation, he took emails he was receiving from recruiters to mean that he had virtually unlimited job options. And he assumed that the founders who were interested in recruiting him would be offering him a high salary in exchange for less than what his current employer demands. All these things give him a false impression of reality on which his argument was based. No, not every six-figure engineering job in Silicon Valley requires ten hour-plus days day in and day out, but companies are not paying these salaries and offering perks like catered lunches and dinners, house cleaning, the best equipment, a free laptop, group events, etc. with the expectation that their most valuable employees are going to be out the door and off the clock at 5 pm. If you truly believe that there is an abundance of six-figure 9-to-5 engineering jobs at major tech companies and funded startups here in the Valley, you're simply wrong. And as I noted, if the person I responded to believes that the type of threat he made to his current employer would be well-received at recognizable companies here, he'd be in for a rude awakening. You can't have your cake and eat it too. When your employer is paying you, say, $140,000/year and needs you on a weekend to put out a fire or finish a major release, unless you have FU money and are working for the fun of it, you had better have another job already lined up if you're going to threaten to quit. And you might as well line up the next two jobs while you're at it because most jobs (in any industry) that pay above a certain amount come with the expectation that you'll go the extra mile when asked.

7Figures2Commas 13y ago

Apparently you didn't read my comment because the point was very clear: engineers cannot do whatever they want and expect to take advantage of the currently hot job market. The author suggested that the average twenty-something engineer in Silicon Valley was in a far higher echelon of earners than is actually the case. Without any confirmation, he took emails he was receiving from recruiters to mean that he had virtually unlimited job options. And he assumed that the founders who were interested in recruiting him would be offering him a high salary in exchange for less than what his current employer demands. All these things give him a false impression of reality on which his argument was based. No, not every six-figure engineering job in Silicon Valley requires ten hour-plus days day in and day out, but companies are not paying these salaries and offering perks like catered lunches and dinners, house cleaning, the best equipment, a free laptop, group events, etc. with the expectation that their most valuable employees are going to be out the door and off the clock at 5 pm. If you truly believe that there is an abundance of six-figure 9-to-5 engineering jobs at major tech companies and funded startups here in the Valley, you're simply wrong. And as I noted, if the person I responded to believes that the type of threat he made to his current employer would be well-received at recognizable companies here, he'd be in for a rude awakening. You can't have your cake and eat it too. When your employer is paying you, say, $140,000/year and needs you on a weekend to put out a fire or finish a major release, unless you have FU money and are working for the fun of it, you had better have another job already lined up if you're going to threaten to quit. And you might as well line up the next two jobs while you're at it because most jobs (in any industry) that pay above a certain amount come with the expectation that you'll go the extra mile when asked.