[mrdodge]

Those were produced pre-FAANG, Boeing probably paid comparatively better then. Do the smartest software engineers flock to Boeing in 2019?

I think the relatively low pay and status of software engineers outside of the Bay Area is a huge risk to society. We are going to start seeing it show up in interesting places.

[freyir]

Not sure why you're being downvoted. There has been a brain-drain from industry and academia because FAANG and the Bay Area have been providing software engineers with much better compensation, even with the cost-of-living factored in.

Some companies can't compete, and many others just refuse to compete.

[xcyyyy]

God forbid that FAANG engineers ever work on aerospace software...

[notacoward]

I work at a FAANG company, and I feel the same way. I don't mean that as a criticism of my coworkers. It's just a different ethos. Not only are no lives at stake, but all copies of the software are visible and modifiable at will. How's that system doing? Oh, it's slow because this part was tuned incorrectly? Boom, pushed a fix. People come to rely on it. They rely on it so much that anyone who emphasizes prevention too much will get dinged for moving too slowly.

It's actually a valid POV for that environment, but it has been difficult for me to adjust. I'm sure it's even harder for them to adjust the other way, to an environment where you don't even know who's running your code until they report a catastrophic failure. Prevention hardly seems like a waste of time then.

[alexis_fr]

Move fast and... wait.

[Scoundreller]

And increasing demand from the security-industrial complex that also does military/classified work.

Boeing can’t H1-B its way out of underpaying like other engineer employers.

[vkou]

> Do the smartest software engineers flock to Boeing in 2019?

Many engineers don't get rewarded for 150 IQ smarts. They get rewarded for hustle. (Whether in a startup, or at FAANG, you can have an incredibly successful, and lucrative career, without being incredibly technically capable.)

When you're working on safety-critical aerospace code, Boeing doesn't, and probably shouldn't give two shits about your hustling skills.

[balls187]

Pay is based on market forces, of which, skill is only one factor.

In comparison German Engineers are not paid very well, so do you assume they are lesser skilled than US engineers? [1]

1: https://www.payscale.com/research/DE/Job=Software_Engineer/S... https://news.ycombinator.com/news

[mrdodge]

A lot of the good German engineers are in the US.

[balls187]

And a lot of great ones are in Germany.

[balls187]

Gmail is down.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19375141

Maybe Google is overpaying their engineers?

[iforgotpassword]

Would like to know why you're being down voted this much, I think you got a valid point there.