[smtddr]

That's because having Apple on your resume is worth your weight in diamonds. Same thing with Pixar & Lucas Arts(Industrial Light & Magic) if your career is in the digital-entertainment production world. These are especially true as you grow closer to the age of 40. Google is some kind of anamoly where they pay high _and_ are a gold-star on your resume; don't know how that works.

[gaius]

At some point, you have to cash in the prestige or it is worthless. So companies that do this are encouraging turnover.

[shock]

Considering that diamonds are basically worthless[1], I don't think that's helping the point you're trying to make.

[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you...

[yen223]

I think this Wikipedia article should be pinned somewhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

[nickik]

Checkout this article "Diamonds, Advertising, DeBeers and Sex" for a alternative on some parts of the story.

http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.ch/2013/08/diamonds-advertisi...

[TeMPOraL]

Value is not an intrinsic property of a thing, but is determined solely by what someone is willing to pay you for it. I agree that the value of diamonds is an engineered one, but it still doesn't change the fact that people will pay truckloads of money for them.

[shock]

> Value is not an intrinsic property of a thing, but is determined solely by what someone is willing to pay you for it.

Well, that's the thesis of the article I linked: out there, in the free market, you wouldn't get much if you'd try to sell a diamond and weren't part of the supply chain.

[smtddr]

Cool, so if you ever get a 100lbs+ bag of diamonds you'll be sure to give it to me.

[shock]

I'm ok with that, but I'm not sure I'd be doing you a favor. I might keep a few rocks for myself to test the theory, though.

[jmeister]

There's a similar situation in finance - Goldman is known to pay slightly below market to entry-level/junior employees, and the gaps swings the other way with senior employees who make above market on average.

[eli_gottlieb]

>Google is some kind of anamoly where they pay high _and_ are a gold-star on your resume; don't know how that works.

I think Google has an extraordinarily high need for engineers due to their blatant attempt to take over the world by moving out ahead of everyone else in every industry they can reach.

When you're trying to corner markets that don't exist yet while also competing to keep other firms taking a slice out of your cash cow core business, you need a lot of R&D.