[mikekoscinski]

Some assumptions to analyze this switch:

- Dropbox saves $50M/year in AWS costs

- Dropbox spends $200K/year (salary, benefits, equipment, SaaS, etc.) for their average infrastructure engineer

Following those assumptions, Dropbox must hire <250 additional engineers for this to break even.

Of course, these assumptions may be wrong (please correct them if so!) and this entirely ignores the unique computing needs of Dropbox's business, which may be unique vs. anything available off the shelf.

[acdha]

> - Dropbox spends $200K/year (salary, benefits, equipment, SaaS, etc.) for their average infrastructure engineer

The usual rule of thumb is that you assume 2:1 for salary and support costs — that starts to drift at the higher end of the pay scale but I'd doubt that a company in San Francisco isn't paying a substantial amount for office space, health insurance, etc.

Your general point is still correct: call it a hundred engineers to break-even and it's likely still a substantial win, and there are some interesting angles for additional cost-optimization given Dropbox's mix of high network traffic and long-tail storage.

[esoterica]

I'm guessing the $200k is a considerable underestimate.

[simonebrunozzi]

Agreed; probably more in the ballpark of $275k / $300k.

[tester756]

I think they could hire very skilled people from poorer countries for like 60K USD / yr