Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by g4m8i7 4042 days ago
Check Netflix. Most of their H1Bs are making far greater than prevailing wage for their positions.
2 comments

Yeah, is this data right? Why do they have Software and UX people making over $250k?
See my reply below. TLDR version: Netflix compensation is all salary. Google, etc, comp is salary + stock + bonus, and I suspect these applications list just salary, not total comp.
Isn't it the case that compensation at Netflix is variable and you could select how you want to distribute it over salary/stock/bonus?
Yes, that's true (for at least stock, I don't think they do bonuses). But the default is 95% salary / 5% stock, so to simplify, I said "just salary"
It's fairly common knowledge in Silicon Valley that Netflix salaries are insane.
Isn't that because they hire a very small amount of very experienced people?
Or maybe because of their high turnover, to compensate the risk of what is known as "the culture of fear" there.
For $300k+ I'll take on some risk.
If you're a US person, why not... But for someone who needs H1B sponsoring and relocation (probably with a family as well), Netflix is the worst company to work for as your first American employer.
It's also because they explicitly prefer to shift as much compensation as possible towards salary as opposed to stock, benefits, perks, etc. They released a long presentation about why they do this, I think it's somewhere on Slideshare.
Netflix engineers are better than the average engineer (even in a given job title), so the prevailing wage calculations don't represent the true economics.

But in any case, H1-B visas can lower the wages of engineers without H1-B holders earning less than Americans. It's just like any import. The import itself doesn't have to be sold for cheaper, it's just that the presence of the import lowers the price via competition, so that both the import and the local good are cheaper than the price before importing started.