> technology companies wage war on one another for top prospects by doling out six-figure salaries<p>First, how far does a "six figure" salary
go when living within commuting distance
of a job in Silicon Valley? Can such
a job buy a house, two late model cars,
and support a wife and family, at
at least a moderately high standard
of living, while saving for
emergencies, education for the kids,
and retirement? Right, I thought not.<p>Second, early in my career in a hot
job market, my annual salary was a little
over six times what a new, high end
Camaro cost. And where I was living
the cost of living was not especially high.
So, to do that now, say, a Camaro
for $50,000, would need
$300,000 a year plus another
100% for Silicon Valley, $600,000
year, plus more for higher
Federal taxes now, plus more
for higher California taxes,
entry level, non-management.
Are people getting that in Silicon
Valley? I thought not.<p>Third, Silicon Valley is still the HQ of
H1-B fraud, right? I thought so.<p>Fourth, in a successful startup,
other than founders and
a few of the early employees,
how many of the employees ever
see any significant financial
gain from their stock? Only a
tiny fraction? Thought so.<p>Fifth, what's this stuff about
"talent"? Can that be measured
by SAT scores, college grades
in computer science, good
projects in computing successfully
completed, a world class research
university Ph.D. in applied
math with published work in
nearly all of the topics
in <i>data science</i>? Will HR even look at
such things? I thought not.
Instead they want why manhole
covers are round? And they
want <i>skills</i> -- Linux,
Java, Python, etc., to hack
code, 100 hours a week,
on a laptop, at
a folding table,
in a big room,
with all the tables
packed with other
<i>coders</i>? I thought so.<p>Question: Why does the NYT
publish such absurd, misleading,
potentially harmful propaganda?