[closeparen]

Location independence is not the interesting part of Oxide’s compensation strategy. It’s that everyone makes exactly the same. There are no negotiations, no levels, no promotions, and consequently no promo packets or promo projects. This is extremely enticing to FAANG types who are tired of a certain kind of bullshit, at the cost of a certain level of ambition.

[systemvoltage]

I wonder if they offer equity. Hierarchies always form, they tried this with Gore Associates in Arizona (totally flat company structure) and has major problems.

[steveklabnik]

We are compensated with equity, yes.

[Aurornis]

Do all employees get the same equity?

I've worked at two companies where everyone got the same base salary, but the variation came in equity.

[steveklabnik]

I don't know to be honest, but I assume that the equity is variable.

[sunshowers]

As a FAANG to Oxide refugee, I think what we're doing is orders of magnitude more ambitious, especially considering our small size.

[cdchn]

Selecting for lack of ambition may have some negative consequences on your businesses' ambition.

[closeparen]

But the problems of engineers optimizing architectures and project plans for their career trajectory over business need are also well-known.

[systemvoltage]

Yeah this I’ve seen everywhere, but more related to the company size. In a 50 employee company, it’s hard to pull that off. As organizations get larger, you get this as inevitable part of human nature. If the salary table is flat, then highly ambitious people will ask for more skin-in-the-game.

The skin-in-the-game bit can be promotions, equity, stock compensation, etc.