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here's an idea: The market for developers is a lemon's market. That means, if you have 100 good cars selling at $2000, and 100 lemon cars selling at $1000, al

here's an idea: The market for developers is a lemon's market. That means, if you have 100 good cars selling at $2000, and 100 lemon cars selling at $1000, all the lemons will sell first, because the people making purchasing decisions aren't expert enough to tell the difference. So it is very rare to be paid based on value, because why would a [CEO|CTO|hiring manager|whatever] pay $1M for this guy, when he can pay $150k for that guy, and he can't really tell the difference between them? Just an idea, I haven't seen this discussed anywhere, what do you guys think?

aplummer 12y ago
I dont think the CEO should be doing the hiring... it should really be the tech lead -> CEO later to confirm?
- aplummer 12y ago
  Ill clarify bluntly because apparently this was worth a -1. "when he can pay $150k for that guy, and he can't really tell the difference between them?" Your tech lead should be able to tell the difference and see the actual value in programmers and explain that to the money people. That is why this lemon theory entirely requires a bad hiring structure.
tim333 12y ago
It's probably an issue which is why to get rich it's good to own equity in the company. Take for example Brian Acton, turned down for a job at Facebook in 2009, cofounded Whatsapp, acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19bn.
- jacques_chester 12y ago
  Almost all people who turn down jobs at Facebook go on to not be billionaires.
  - tim333 12y ago
    Indeed and Facebook can't tell who's going to so they'll pay more the $150k rather than the $1m. Dunno the best strategy if you think you're worth $1m. Probably take the $150k job and jump ship if there seems a great opportunity or if you feel the need. That's kind of what the Whatsapp guys did - they worked as engineers at Yahoo for about nine years before taking a year off and then doing the app stuff.
matt_s 12y ago
Interesting perspective on it. The comparison seems valid to me since it will take probably 3-6 months to really know if you ended up with a lemon of an employee. That is if the manager can tell the difference. Obviously excluding a bad hire/non-match which would be obvious in week 1 or 2. When I think about this perspective, another way to state it is that maybe the work being done doesn't actually need the costly person? Back to the car analogy, if your requirements are to drive 5-10 miles per day do you need a luxury car with GPS, sound system, leather, headlight wipers, etc.? Or can you use a beat up car that might be a lemon that mostly works? And when the beat up car has problems you get another one. This seems to be the approach larger companies (emp_count > 5000) take since they want to commoditize the work and make the employees completely replaceable.

aplummer 12y ago

I dont think the CEO should be doing the hiring... it should really be the tech lead -> CEO later to confirm?

aplummer 12y ago
Ill clarify bluntly because apparently this was worth a -1. "when he can pay $150k for that guy, and he can't really tell the difference between them?" Your tech lead should be able to tell the difference and see the actual value in programmers and explain that to the money people. That is why this lemon theory entirely requires a bad hiring structure.

tim333 12y ago

It's probably an issue which is why to get rich it's good to own equity in the company. Take for example Brian Acton, turned down for a job at Facebook in 2009, cofounded Whatsapp, acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19bn.

jacques_chester 12y ago
Almost all people who turn down jobs at Facebook go on to not be billionaires.
- tim333 12y ago
  Indeed and Facebook can't tell who's going to so they'll pay more the $150k rather than the $1m. Dunno the best strategy if you think you're worth $1m. Probably take the $150k job and jump ship if there seems a great opportunity or if you feel the need. That's kind of what the Whatsapp guys did - they worked as engineers at Yahoo for about nine years before taking a year off and then doing the app stuff.

matt_s 12y ago

Interesting perspective on it. The comparison seems valid to me since it will take probably 3-6 months to really know if you ended up with a lemon of an employee. That is if the manager can tell the difference. Obviously excluding a bad hire/non-match which would be obvious in week 1 or 2. When I think about this perspective, another way to state it is that maybe the work being done doesn't actually need the costly person? Back to the car analogy, if your requirements are to drive 5-10 miles per day do you need a luxury car with GPS, sound system, leather, headlight wipers, etc.? Or can you use a beat up car that might be a lemon that mostly works? And when the beat up car has problems you get another one. This seems to be the approach larger companies (emp_count > 5000) take since they want to commoditize the work and make the employees completely replaceable.