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That's awesome, but it's weird to me that Facebook, etc. will happily pay a senior engineer a total compensation of $200k+ yet only pledge $50k for the maintain

by tdicola 12y ago

That's awesome, but it's weird to me that Facebook, etc. will happily pay a senior engineer a total compensation of $200k+ yet only pledge $50k for the maintainer of a critical tool. Not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth here, just odd perception of the priorities here.

ceejayoz 12y ago
They have to pay the engineer $200k, or he walks. They didn't have to pay the $50k.
davmre 12y ago
Facebook gets all of the value produced by their own developers, but the benefits of GPG are shared. If every big tech company matched Facebook's $50k, the total sponsorship would be equivalent to several engineer salaries.
72deluxe 12y ago
Out of interest, what does this senior engineer have to do? Is it C++ or PHP? EDIT: Someone downvoted me, not sure why, but I am genuinely curious what the senior engineer does?
- conradk 12y ago
  I'd guess that whoever downvoted you thought this was a troll meant to start a flamewar with C++ vs. PHP and whether one or the other is more difficult (read "better" or "a real language"). It's interesting to note though, that Facebook does uses PHP and C++ extensively. And Facebook maintains a large a number of open source PHP and C++ projects. So I suppose that some Facebook engineers are more involved with PHP and some more involved with C++. But more importantly, I don't think Facebook engineers are bound to a technology. They think about how to solve problems. If PHP is the best tool to solve a problem, they'll use that. If it's C++, they'll use that instead.
  - 72deluxe 12y ago
    Ah I hadn't thought of that about the flamewar. I use both languages (now mainly C++ as I don't need to use PHP for the stuff I am writing anymore). You're right about them using the right tool for the job - their entire HipHop etc. (whatever it is called now) creations to convert PHP to C++ and run a C++ web server are a good indication of this. Good point!

by tdicola 12y ago

ceejayoz 12y ago

They have to pay the engineer $200k, or he walks. They didn't have to pay the $50k.

davmre 12y ago

Facebook gets all of the value produced by their own developers, but the benefits of GPG are shared. If every big tech company matched Facebook's $50k, the total sponsorship would be equivalent to several engineer salaries.

72deluxe 12y ago

Out of interest, what does this senior engineer have to do? Is it C++ or PHP? EDIT: Someone downvoted me, not sure why, but I am genuinely curious what the senior engineer does?

conradk 12y ago
I'd guess that whoever downvoted you thought this was a troll meant to start a flamewar with C++ vs. PHP and whether one or the other is more difficult (read "better" or "a real language"). It's interesting to note though, that Facebook does uses PHP and C++ extensively. And Facebook maintains a large a number of open source PHP and C++ projects. So I suppose that some Facebook engineers are more involved with PHP and some more involved with C++. But more importantly, I don't think Facebook engineers are bound to a technology. They think about how to solve problems. If PHP is the best tool to solve a problem, they'll use that. If it's C++, they'll use that instead.
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  Ah I hadn't thought of that about the flamewar. I use both languages (now mainly C++ as I don't need to use PHP for the stuff I am writing anymore). You're right about them using the right tool for the job - their entire HipHop etc. (whatever it is called now) creations to convert PHP to C++ and run a C++ web server are a good indication of this. Good point!