Hacker News Reader

Comment by robertlagrant | Hacker News Reader

Are the FAANGs not clear and transparent?

No? At least two of them had to be sued into not illegally carteling to keep wages down: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust....

I don't know about the others, but Google does not share pay bands, refresh targets, or other pay information with workers. People volunteer their information for folks who collect the results and distribute it (since this is protected action) but I wouldn't say that this is "transparent".

just because they have bands for certain titles/w2 employees does not mean so for vendors/developers working as consultants via their own S corporations... Exceptions to HR supervision exist

Of course - that's like engaging any other supplier. Suppliers don't know what other suppliers are paid. Is that not the structure of that arrangement?

Yes it's OK and I don't decry it because I benefit from it... But the typical FTE will go on thinking the best career path is E3...E6 and along the way get PIPed when no longer needed... They will build castles in the air... But the vendor route allows a different relationship with the firm...

What I mean is most FTE don't realize the other relationship is possible and at a certain compensation level preferable... It's the ignorance of our generation when most FTE don't realize instead of some equity vesting over 4 years they might have been better off with a cash balance defined benefit plan or pension plan with the maximum contribution.

We think we know best but fail to realize it could be better. We get caught up on the LC competition but fail to distinguish an optimal plan outside of the ones presented to us.

Would a union help? I think so... Would it take lots of explaining ... yes....

Reply on news.ycombinator.com