
Free food and misery: the life of a techie - pmuk
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21688390-glamorous-tech-startups-can-be-brutal-places-workers-other-side-paradise?fsrc=rss
======
ditonal
The most insulting things companies do is offer 'vanity' perks while slashing
real perks.  My last gig had fancy parties, free dinner (no lunch
interestingly), got itself ranked as a "best place to work" etc.  It could
market its employees as entitled, spoiled developers for sure. 

However, there was no 401k matching.  No tuition reimbursement.  There were
multiple weeks of uncompensated 24/7 on-call rotations throughout the year,
many for stressful legacy applications the company refused to invest resources
to actually maintain for real.  Basically, if you couldn't market the perk to
20-somethings, they slashed it. 

Meanwhile I'm told that my very existence screws over the poor working class
police officers and firefighters, who make 80% of what I make but have job
security and lifetime pensions awaiting for them.  And they get paid for
overtime. 

While I absolutely feel like I'm privileged in many ways to work in tech, the
industry has many incentives to make tech workers look more 'spoiled' than
they are, and so they work their PR engines to do exactly that. 

I am also sick of hearing these 'rumors of one engineer at Google' making
millions being cited as if it was a BLS salary report or something. 

~~~
hawkice
> There were multiple weeks of uncompensated 24/7 on-call rotations throughout
> the year, many for stressful legacy applications the company refused to
> invest resources to actually maintain for real. 

I am a 20-something who was woken up every day at 1am for weeks to "handle
emergencies" that didn't exist -- are you telling me the standard is
compensating people for this?  I did get the sense that if it cost the company
meaningful amounts of money they would have let me change the alerting system
so that only real emergencies woke me up, instead of "not your department"ing
me. 

~~~
onewland
If you work as an engineer in the US you're probably an "exempt" employee by
status, meaning that your employer doesn't have to compensate you for extra
time.  If you're sufficiently underpaid as an engineer that you're non-exempt,
then you should be paid 1.5x for any time beyond 9-5/40 hours, or you should
get to trade in those unscheduled hours to work less on following days. 

EDIT: Realized I didn't address the question of whether it is "standard".  I've
heard that DevOps engineers have a bit of a compensation consideration (maybe
$10-20k/year in the Bay Area where I live) for the on-call nature of their
jobs, but I am sure that they are mostly paid enough to be exempt employees. 
This is totally anecdotal/second-hand and it would not surprise me if their
pay is at parity or even worse than other software engineers. 

~~~
hawkice
Suffice it to say I was making $1X0k/year in a second tier American market
(Chicago/Seattle/LA you know the deal), so I didn't feel underpaid per se --
more that, for those weeks when I was missing a lot of sleep, I got the sense
it was a pretty raw deal. 

------
mkozlows
The biggest card this article palms is by starting out talking about tech
companies, and then switching into a survey that's not primarily about tech
companies: "A survey last year of 5,000 such workers at both tech and non-tech
firms... found that many of them feel alienated, trapped, underappreciated and
otherwise discombobulated." 

Because, sure, if you're the person who does Crystal Reports at Bob's House of
Widgets, or the VB person at Gary's Lawncare, or even (to some extent) one of
the J2EE horde at MegaBankCorp, you're in a place where you're not core to the
business, you're viewed as a cost center, you have a limited career path, and
the main people at the company probably have you lumped in with HR and
Accounting. 

But I really, really, really doubt you're going to find that same sense of
alienation, underappreciation, etc.  at a tech company. 

~~~
jfb
_But I really, really, really doubt you 're going to find that same sense of
alienation, underappreciation, etc.  at a tech company._ 

How many tech companies have you worked at? 

~~~
ionforce
What are you trying to imply? 

~~~
jfb
In my experience, having worked at many "tech companies" as well as "square-
job companies", there is no great difference in how software engineering types
are treated. 

------
geebee
Wow.  I'm a little surprised to read such a dim view of the lot of a software
developer in the economist.  I'm glad to see it in a mainstream publication,
though. 

I don't think that software development is necessarily a bad career, but I do
think it has been vastly oversold relative to other paths available to well
educated, hardworking people who can choose their own career path in the US. 
And I think that this overselling is a big part of a PR campaign to convince
congress and the public that there is a shortage of software developers. 

IN short, while this article presents an unusually pessimistic image of
software development as a career, and I may not fully agree with it, I do
welcome this rebalancing. 

~~~
zippergz
I make over $200k most years, with a liberal arts bachelor degree.  I work in a
comfortable office with reasonable hours, no one yells at me, I don't have to
get dirty or put myself in physical danger.  I take several weeks of vacation a
year, I very rarely work a late night, and I have recruiters reaching out to
me on a regular basis offering me new opportunities.  While I don’t love all
aspects of my work (who does?),  I also can’t say with a straight face that I
don’t have a drastically better situation than most people.  If you ask me,
software development is a pretty damned good field to be in. 

~~~
ryandrake
Congratulations, but you have to admit you are a pretty extreme outlier, even
in the Bay Area.  I'd guess the vast majority of tech workers in Silicon Valley
are in the $80-$140K range, and the vast majority outside the valley are in
the $50-90K range.  $200K is eye popping and probably two or more standard
deviations from the mean. 

~~~
zippergz
You're looking only at base salary.  Bonus and stock vesting (I'm talking
generally about large, public tech companies you've all heard of - not
startups) raise the total cash significantly. 

~~~
ryandrake
I'm considering all parts of the package.  You really think a significant chunk
of Valley tech workers make $200K including bonus and _sellable_ equity?  Not a
chance.  Sure, everyone knows someone who knows someone who works at Google and
makes that much.  But for each of them, I'll show you 10 people who make a
normal amount. 

------
jethro_tell
The crazy thing is job satisfaction.  People do things they dislike because you
pay them more.  I've been a carpenter and a heavy machinery opperator before my
current job in tech.  Come March, I'm going to look out the window at the first
sunny day and wish I was crushing a house.  But in April 15, I'm going to smile
as I realize how much money I save this year and look at my investments yoy. 

I mean, I don't feel as apriciated or have as much fun, but I put money in the
bank, I'll have healthcare for my family, retirement for my self and better
job security. 

Everyone is feeling pressure from inflation and stagnating wages, but let's
not pretend an SDE with a six figure income is some how part of the working
class now.  The working class was relieved of health care and security a decade
or more ago. 

~~~
civilian
Off topic, but is crushing houses fun?  It sounds like it'd be a lot of fun. 

~~~
jethro_tell
It is so much fun that many years, I schedule summer vacation to coincide with
a house crushing from my old boss.  I go out and give home 2 free days of labor
cleaning up after the crushing in exchange for getting to drive into someones
kitchen with a dozer.  It's harder than you would think, you kinda try to
scrape the inside out through the windows or a hole you made in the walls,
then push it in on itself.  It's really easy to get a pile of garbage that is
too weak to drive on and too tall to pull the top off of.  That's when you have
to start driving dump truck and realized there are people who do this for a
living and you're just playing around. 

For the record though, cleaning up involves driving a dump truck, bobcat or
excavator.  It's not like I have a shovel in hand for more than an hour in the
week. 

~~~
beachstartup
i always thought the guys who imploded buildings had a fun job too. 

~~~
jethro_tell
That would be pretty cool but the vast majority of the job would be drilling
in concrete which is pretty tough work.  The pay off would be pretty cool
though. 

------
vosper
I don't believe the Instagram billion was about acquiring 13 software
engineers.  It was about controlling an application that was a huge (and
growing) competitor for attention on mobile, was it's own social network, and
was better (or at least, more flexible and fun) than Facebook at one of
Facebook's core functionalities: sharing photos. 

~~~
danieltillett
It was about preventing any social application that might conceivably threaten
facebook.  Personally I think it was a bit of an over reaction on Facebook’s
side, but they do seem very paranoid about this. 

I have to say I am a true old fuddy-duddy when it comes to Instagram as I
can’t think of a single use for it that appeals to me. 

~~~
pconner
> I have to say I am a true old fuddy-duddy when it comes to Instagram as I
> can’t think of a single use for it that appeals to me. 

On Facebook, people present a polished version of their lives as if it's
reflective of everything in their lives. 

On Instagram, the purpose is to show polished (and "filtered") versions of
what you're doing.  I like that Instagram is a bit more honest about what it
really is. 

~~~
ghrifter
Aside from that, its a neat way to consume art or nature/sport/hobby
photography without the fluff of facebook

~~~
danieltillett
This seemed the best use for Instagram, but my phone is not the best device
for looking at art. 

------
mberning
Fabulously paid?  Yeah right.  Salaries are decent compared to the average
working stiff.  You still top out early in your career with little chance for
significant increase. 

In regards to the perks, having access to all of them mentioned is the
exception rather than the rule. 

It is a sad indictment of work culture that the freedom to make your own hours
or rest when tired is seen as an extravagant benefit. 

~~~
jusben1369
"You still top out".  Actually that's pretty unique to sw development vs other
white collar roles and is not discussed enough when it comes to understanding
higher levels of disillusion.  SW developers are basically having their mod
life crisis at 28 or 32 when they realize they've mostly flatlined unless they
go into management. 

~~~
umanwizard
Saying "unless they go into management" is an artificial distinction. 

In most white-collar roles, "advancement" is synonymous with "going into
management", and software development is no different. 

------
jarjoura
I'm sorry, but software engineering was never glamorous.  When I went into
college, over a decade ago now, the first year courses were always the most
packed, largely filled with hopeful souls.  Then by year 2 and 3 they dropped
back to only the most dedicated fans.  That's right, I said the word fans.  I
graduated with 20 other computer science majors, out of what was probably
thousands at the beginning. 

I wouldn't want to be doing anything else in my career and the tech press and
media did little to influence or change it. 

Netscape, then Google, then Digg, on to Facebook and Twitter, these were all
early companies that got the press raving about how cool, how easy, how
glamorous it was to work in startups and in tech.  Yet at the end of the day,
it's still solving mundane and sometimes really hard problems with you butt
glued to the seat and writing a lot of code in a text editor. 

I should also add that the biggest reward for me every day is solving a
problem and finally getting that ah hah moment.  It's not the foosball table or
free lunch. 

------
tokenadult
A key paragraph in the article kindly submitted here is this paragraph about
promised shares of stock in a company: "Moreover, tech startups typically
attract talent by offering shares.  Employees work like dogs in return for
supposedly making a fortune when the firm goes public.  However, such firms
often use multiple classes of shares that preserve the biggest gains for
insiders, leaving the employees with common stock that can easily lose value. 
In particular, startups have taken to offering later-stage investors
guarantees that they will get their money back, if either a subsequent funding
round or an eventual initial public offering (IPO) values their shares at a
lower price than they are paying.  When firms have to pay out on such
guarantees, they generally do so by issuing extra shares, which dilute other
common shareholders such as their staff."  That's what makes the venture-
capital-funded tech industry different: it looks like it offers opportunities
to make serious money through appreciation of shares in the company, but all
too often that doesn't work out. 

It was interesting to see, in another part of the article, the suggestion that
knowing what a company's goals are in relation to one's work can make one's
work more satisfying.  That makes sense. 

------
madengr
For me, as an EE, all those perks are a fantasy.  All I can expect is my
company to consistently screw us every year on our benefits. 

~~~
linuxlizard
And move your job to China. 

~~~
madengr
It needs a security clearance, so not yet, but I'm sure they would if they
could figure out how to do so. 

Funny thing is, if they would offer free lunch, they would get some more work
out of me.  They don't even offer free coffee; yes that's how fucking pathetic
it is.  Not even cheap black coffee.  They'd improve employee health if they
offered free fruit, but nope, that bag of apples from Costco is too fucking
expensive.  Instead they just fine us $2000 for not participating in
biometrics. 

~~~
albemuth
> Instead they just fine us $2000 for not participating in biometrics. 

Mind explaining? 

~~~
madengr
I, and my spouse, must participate in the yearly biometrics screening (i.e.
blood test and BMI) or else we are fined $1500 each.  By fine I mean a paycheck
deduction. 

------
staunch
Why haven't salaries at tech companies gone up much despite huge increases in
demand, profits, and housing costs? 

Most programmers make about what they've always made, maybe less (adjusted for
inflation).  $120k/yr in 2001 is $160k/yr in 2015. 

~~~
beachstartup
because smart kids are always willing to work for less and there's no
credentialing guild like there is with medicine or law or real engineering. 

------
noam87
Have we arrived at the conclusion that the people who convinced the middle
class that unions are evil did not have our best interests in mind yet, or are
we gonna keep shooting ourselves in the foot? 

Keep shooting ourselves in the foot it is then.  K. Carry on. 

------
vonnik
> _However, a career as a software developer or engineer comes with no
> guarantee of job satisfaction._ 

No career comes with a guarantee of job satisfaction, and very few come with
much security.  Less so in the tech industry, because tech itself is evolving
quickly. 

I'm a little disappointed that this reporter feels such a statement is
newsworthy.  To read this article, I would almost believe that its author
doesn't believe in meritocracy or neo-liberalism, which is kind of bad faith,
coming from The Economist. 

------
linuxlizard
Does this article apply at all outside Silicon Valley? 

~~~
pconner
If anything, I think it would be worse outside.  Crazy perk culture is mostly
associated with bay area companies.  Other areas have cheaper costs of living,
which may help reduce stress, but bay area companies have better base salaries
to compensate, and they tend to provide better stock options/grants than
companies based in other areas. 

~~~
mooseburger
Well, I'm a software developer with three years of experience in Puerto Rico. 
It hasn't been too bad so far.  There isn't an expectation that one will
regularly work 12 hour days or something, though of course there is crunch
time. 

------
exceptione
working link: [https://ixquick-
proxy.com/do/spg/proxy2?ep=5679746e445249575...](https://ixquick-
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------
gansai
liked one metaphor in the article: golden handcuffs

