
Software engineers complaining about a $450k salary? - misterpoomanchu
Is this (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.teamblind.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;Would-you-go-to-Snap-from-Google-both-in-NY-E8FK34gT) the epitome of entitlement? It&#x27;s sad to see there are &quot;engineers&quot; out there that could complain about this.
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zadkey
It's important to keep in mind that the cost of living in certain cities is
massively higher than others, in some cases more than 4 times higher.

It's also important to keep in mind that there are CEO's that make 275 times
their average worker, some exceeding 50k per hour.

When I see a highly paid engineer salary, I consider a form of societal
progress that a skilled worker can make a good living. Something that used to
be reserved only for upper management.

It is an acknowledgement from society that work we do is meaningful and
valuable.

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Sohcahtoa82
> It's important to keep in mind that the cost of living in certain cities is
> massively higher than others, in some cases more than 4 times higher.

People don't understand this.

I live in suburbs near Portland, OR, and paid $330K for a 3 br, 2.5 bath, 1850
sq foot house near the end of 2015. Meanwhile, in Palo Alto, I've seen 1 br, 1
bath, 700 sq ft condos on sale for over $1.5M.

It's pretty ridiculous.

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UncleMeat
People overstate this.

Specifically owning a home in the bay area is insane. But outside of this one
thing, COL changes don't come anywhere close to matching the increased salary.
Even if you are including things like childcare.

I'd expect my salary to drop by _250k_ if I left the bay area. After
accounting for COL differences, my savings rate would be far lower elsewhere.
Even if you aren't making top of line income, people still can very easily
come out ahead in the bay area. That 700 sq ft condo may sell for millions,
but it is still only 2.5k/month in rent.

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nine_zeros
I think you are underestimating how quickly rents have been rising here every
year. There's almost never point of rising income when all of those gains are
going to rent.

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UncleMeat
I live here. My income has risen far far far faster than the rent. I'm able to
save literally six figures more than I'd be able to elsewhere.

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vnpc1
I didn't see anyone complaining about a $450k salary - the closest thing was
the guy who's L6 at Facebook and making the same as L5 at Snap while working
60h weeks.

Not sure what the problem is - people with high compensation can also discuss
how much they're making and talk about their career moves. None of it comes
across as entitlement.

Also didn't get why any of it would be sad to you or why you're implying that
they're not real engineers by putting quotes around the word engineers.

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non-entity
Not sure of OP's nationality, but I vaguely remember hearing certain countries
dont care for the title engineer because software engineers dont go through
the sale licensing processes other engineers do, or something like that.

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blaser-waffle
Nn a lot of other places (even here in Canada), "Engineer" has a specific
meaning and licensing requirements, similar to Doctor and Lawyer.

Like, to be an official medical Doctor you have to graduate from an accredited
program, do specific training and internships, pass the boards, etc. Likewise
with Lawyers you have to come out of certified law schools, pass the bar, do
articling, etc. Same deal with Engineers.

Otherwise the term starts to lose meaning, such as someone being a Sanitation
Engineer (Janitor) or Food Service Engineer.

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codingslave
Why is it sad? 450k is reaching the top of our field, but is nowhere near the
top of finance, law, and business. Engineers at the top of their game should
be unsatisfied with this type of compensation.

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pathartl
This is something that actually really bothers me. Heads of business have a
near infinite wage ceiling, same with sales. I guess engineers are probably
given incentive with stock, but even still they're not treated nearly as well
as even lower management.

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Kevin_S
I dunno, that kinda makes sense to me if you think about the structure of a
business. An elite CEO makes the most critical decisions that can be easily
worth billions either positive or negative. An elite engineer makes a stellar
project sure, but they work on a team etc. An elite engineer that makes elite
decisions becomes an executive, and doesn't stay an engineer.

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mattmanser
What's elite about them? There's nothing elite about them, almost anyone can
do their job.

It's more a matter of connections and luck if you're a CEO.

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AnimalMuppet
Beware the company that has a CEO due to connections and luck. Sure, anyone
can sit in the seat and cash the salary checks. Not just anyone can do a good
job of actually running the company, though.

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diehunde
If you spend more time on blind you'll see it's kind of a thing there.
Obsession around TC. Take a look at the highest salaries on 2019:

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/19ne7ccUdOWewD4rFDQjjnQEJDgs...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19ne7ccUdOWewD4rFDQjjnQEJDgsmgFID/view)

450k is not even high compared to other positions.

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misterpoomanchu
Yeah this is nuts, $950k for a principal engineer, hahahah what a joke

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tempsy
What exactly is sad about negotiating a high salary (if you can get it) from a
multi-billion dollar company?

My understanding is Snap has something like a 10/20/30/40 vesting schedule, so
it's a long commitment that comes with a lot of risk relative to working at a
company with a 25/25/25/25 schedule, especially if you're comparing it to
Google. You should be compensated for that added risk in that case.

Plus, you'll probably be working longer hours at a Snap vs a Google.

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seattle_spring
> What exactly is sad about negotiating a high salary

In reality? Nothing. People should be fighting to raise the bar for everyone,
but instead there's a trend to push people who are doing well down to the
lowest common denominator.

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superflit
I don't think there is any problem with someone complaining about 450K.

I think the problem is people are envy about him.

I want to be this guy with a 450K salary.

I want to complain about it. I do envy in a good way.

Doing my best to learn and be open to opportunities. Will I succeed?

It is not fair to envy or be jealous.

How much this guy had suffered to have a "tunnel" effort to reach that point?
Sometimes people are successful to escape something that is always there and
_WE_ always pay a price.. Be it on relationships, health or love.

There is _Always_ a price.

Sometimes you don't know the price sometimes you do.

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muzani
It's the case with millionaires and billionaires too. There's always a price.

The price isn't really relationships, health, love. You get that quite easily
with enough money. But it's often things like not being able to lie around
watching Netflix all weekend. Someone like Bill Gates can't backpack all over
the Europe even if they had the money to. Lots of royalty may not have to
worry about food and housing, but they live in a gilded cage. Most of us can
work 40 hours a week, but a president or CEO might not have the luxury to.

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mc3
Not the epitome of entitlement at all.

Is Apple entitled because it makes such vast profits and wants to make more?
Maybe it should reduce it's product prices and all the execs take home $100k/y
so they can buy a typical house in a typical city?

Why one standard for business (make profit) and a different one for employees
(be humble, be reasonable, don't get too rich)?

If you work for these big companies you are just working for a machine in many
regards. There is nothing personal about it even. Even if you are working for
a small company, they are not your family (unless they are, but that is rare),
you don't owe them to take a smaller salary so that you aren't being too
greedy. Especially when you don't get the upside they could get if they sold
the business.

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bdcravens
Entitlement is "I deserve". A job offer is "we think you deserve" in what is
presumably a fair trade of income for work performed.

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totaldude87
one of the comment is legit af..

"There’s something wrong with our society where the guy who puts mustaches on
cartoon images makes half a million dollars a year, so the rest of us are
glued longer in front of our little screens like zombies. God help us all and
our future generations. I can’t wait for this scam/sham tech bubble to burst."

~~~
seattle_spring
How is it any different than a sports player getting millions of fans to glue
to their TV screens watching them play? How about a highly paid actor
convincing billions of people to glue themselves to the silver screen?

They're all forms of widespread entertainment and are valuable enough to pay
good money for.

~~~
nine_zeros
Theres a difference. A top athlete is the highest form of human physical
endurance. A top actor is the highest form of human self expression.

A top clickbait maker is really one of the highest forms of addiction
producer.

Clickbait companies are really no different from porn or nicotine companies
and top engineers today are producing said goods.

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jakobmi
The blind community is 200% sarcastic. Don't take anything read there
seriously.

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trixtur
It seems that salary should be based upon more than just numbers. If an
engineer is producing a value greater than a few times $450k they should be
adequately compensated.

