[EduardoBautista]

Yes. I don't understand the people who say "I'd rather work in a company with a good working environment" as if you have to work for peanuts to have a good job. If you are convinced to work for a low salary in the name of "culture" your employer is laughing all the way to the bank.

[cortesoft]

I don't know... most of those places that pay a low salary in the name of 'culture' are startups, and most of those don't ever make any money... so there isn't really anyone laughing all the way to the bank.

[sidlls]

Replace "culture" with some other buzzword or phrase, e.g. "work on hard problems," "intellectually challenging/stimulating," "positive work/life balance," "work on important problems," "be disruptive," etc.

This sort of "anything but financial compensation" compensation is ubiquitous in this industry.

[ThrustVectoring]

And you're laughing all the way to having an excellent life.

Like, this is the market behaving appropriately. If companies can get better talent at better prices by providing better working environments, well, we're effectively buying nicer work environments. Whether it's worth the cost or not is a separate issue, and really depends on the price. Personally, I've priced working in SF instead of Mountain View at roughly $20k/year when evaluating job offers.

[EduardoBautista]

You don't seem to understand what I am saying. You are making the argument that you either have an excellent life or make 20k more. I am saying that you can find both.