I can hardly imagine earning $350k a year. I've never earned a third of that anually. What I can imagine is a job that places such a demand on my time and attention that I don't have time for a life outside of it.
Most of the reason those big companies can pay software developers so we’ll is that they are worth it, and they can be worth it because they have more leverage: if you do something that causes a small company to be 1% better, and if that same thing would make a small part of a massive company 0.5% better, the latter can be worth a lot more just because the denominator is so much bigger. It feels harder to explain why they must pay so much. The first order argument is that there is lots of demand for software developers and that pushes up the price, but these companies are active in markets where developers are paid less well (e.g. Europe) and they could adjust hiring to favour candidates who are good but less competitive (e.g. because they are bad at a particular kind of interview) so I don’t understand why market forces haven’t lead to things being more balanced.
However in the case of Amazon this isn't based on "imagining" but extremely widespread reports across multiple sources.
If your children hate you or you lose the love of your life -- or you ruin your health -- then what's the point of all that money and free time?
There are several companies where the revenue they create per employee is so astronomical that reasonable work-life balance and high pay are on the table.
Especially so if you are single income family.
How on earth can you say that $350k is "not that much"?
Yeah it really still is. Living in the bay area as a single 20 something making that kind of money you are approaching 1% status. Rent is a little higher sure, but what really is the difference between $2k/month and $4k/month when you're bringing home $20k+/month? And everything else in California besides housing is the same as anywhere else really in terms of cost of living.
That's the point these companies don't get, and never will get.
All of their mouthed pronouncements about "wellness" and "work-life balance" notwithstanding.
Speak for yourself, I guess.
I would strap myself into the torture machine from Clockwork Orange for 8 hours a day if you paid me $350k to do it.
The magic wears off fast and it doesn’t go as far as you imagine.
