'Crazy stuff is happening at my work': Silicon Valley engineers are freaking out

[olliej]

I read from the archive version, and this sounded as nonsense as I expected.

I do not know anyone who acts like any of the references people, a lot of them have behaviours that I would associated with people copying from stories about working in tech and startups rather than actual functional engineers.

The quoted pay ranges also to me indicate that however they’re asking isn’t explicitly separating cash and non-cash comp, which means the quoted ranges may or may not be impressive - generally they just sound kind of average.

A lot of the hype worrying about other people getting so smart or quants, etc does not jibe with my experience either - the combined behaviour seems like it could be implying employees that are say underperforming for their comp, or it could be employees who’s employer is itself on the ropes.

The other 50/50 possibility I could read from this is that there are sufficient worriers on this particular site that you can find enough people to create this story.

[littlexsparkee]

The timing of macro events for millennials has just thrown a wrench in things repeatedly. Came into a horrible job market, finally doing well and this happens. I have a good manager, workload, and comp so I'm waiting it out - had just hoped to leave the renter life behind and have some more security.

[chrispeel]

>If you want to get a core sample of what Silicon Valley engineers are feeling these days, as the tech industry implodes around them...

I'm a Silicon Valley engineer, and I confess that I don't see the tech industry imploding.

[iancmceachern]

Yeah, my little world (med device) is doing just fine.

[troymc]

I'm confused by people thinking it's a bad job market. Statistically, US unemployment is very low right now... back to pre-pandemic levels. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on April 2022 [1]:

"Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 428,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing."

3.6 percent is basically full employment; it doesn't go much lower than that. Employers are having a hard time filling jobs. Wages are going up. Again from the BLS report:

"Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 5.5 percent."

[1] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

[iancmceachern]

It has to do with stock. Many workers in startups, FAANGs, etc have a very large portion of their overall compensation come to them in the form of stock, options, RSUs, etc. So when stocks go down significantly many folks loose a lot of their overall perceived compensation. This compensation above the salary is what makes living in the bay area workable for many families.

[slater]

Archive link: https://archive.ph/PrNux

[WheelsAtLarge]

Money for startups is drying up. So we'll see a lot of startups closing and as a side affect the FAANG having layoffs due to the reduction in earnings caused by less over all spending. Silicon Valley and such are going to get hit hard since there's so much startup activity there. Panic is contagious so I can see why people are feeling the pain. We're going to go thru a few painful years but it is not the end of the tech industry. I doubt that more than a small percent of the tech industry will get impacted but I know no one wants to be part of that percentage.

[streetcat1]

click bait.

[more_corn]

Yeah, carpet doesn’t match the drapes.