this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024

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S.F. tech founder says 84-hour workweek approach is ‘because I’m San Franciscan’ (www.sfchronicle.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/23162928

Archive link: https://archive.ph/nAWbR

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Software engineers at the company can expect to make $120,000 to $200,000 per year, according to job postings on Greptile’s website.

So that's the equivalent of 60k-100k at a job where you can work normal hours. I could see this maybe if he was paying more than twice the market rate for more than twice the normal amount of work, but he's not. Not even close.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Thats below market for a 40hr week in San Francisco for a software dev. From levels.fyi, which allows people to confirm their employment anonymously:

The average Software Engineer salary range in San Francisco Bay Area, CA is from $195,000 to $350,000. Last updated: 12/3/2024

Town is wildly overpriced, and hes paying about 1/4th what he should be for 84 hrs/week.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

And people wonder why I don't move to work at these big tech hubs. I have lots of tech jobs in my area and most of them expect normal hours. As it turns out, I rarely work more than 40 hours, and most weeks I'm around 35.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This isn't the only guy hiring in SF. By and large the pay seems really good for below average effort.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Cost of living is insane though, and there's way too much traffic for my liking, which would really impact my quality of life.

I make around what the OP is talking about, work less than half as much, and my COL is way lower. I'll just travel to CA if I feel like it, but I'm not interested in moving.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a larger equation, and it sounds like it totally makes sense for you. I've been working remote to SF for 15 years and made the same choice you did. That experience has also let me see that the comp to effort ratio there is very very good.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

How's the remote pay? I was under the impression that you get your pay adjusted based on where you live, so you wouldn't make SF money of you live elsewhere.

I did the math a while ago and I could probably make $100k or so more if I move there, but that would go almost entirely to COL and taxes, and I'd have to put up with SF traffic as well. And I have kids, so I'm unwilling to commute there (e.g. fly there for the weekdays).

I've worked on site there (my company partnered with Facebook for a project, so I hung out with one of their teams), and I really didn't like it. But I've heard a lot of people like it, so do what works I guess. My in-laws keep trying to convince me to move to SoCal, but that's worse than SF to me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Don’t take this idiot’s little company as the norm for the area. San Francisco scene is pretty chill.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's good to know.

I figure I could probably find a good fit over there, but I honestly don't like the area that much (mostly traffic and costs of things). Other people may not be as bothered by that though, so it could be a good fit.

There are good and bad employers everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I used to take the BART train to work In SF so traffic wasn’t a concern. Now I don’t commute at all!

But I’m not trying to convince you to move here. Please don’t!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Please don’t!

And I'd say the same about my area. Glad you like it. 😀

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m actually a native so my whole life is here. It’s more to me than a “what’s the cost of living and what’s the crime rate” calculation like so many seem to make when choosing a place to call home.

I’d say the same about my area

Ah but is this somewhere I have even thought about moving? ;D One nice thing about the SF Bay is that it draws interesting people from all over, and friends and family tend to stick around more often than other places I’ve lived. The “great California exodus” is all the rage in people’s minds this year but I have lived in a couple of places that everybody eventually moved away from if they could.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Idk, maybe? I'm near SLC, which has gorgeous mountains and excellent skiing, and wonderful national parks a short drive away.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I do enjoy Utah but could never live with the beer there :D

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

They lifted the stupid alcohol limit for grocery store beer, so that part of the problem is solved.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Oh yay that’s something.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Its also San Fran, where you'll lose all that money on COL.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you get FAANG-tier money in SF, you don't lose it all to CoL. You definitely make it out ahead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sure, but $120k is definitely not FAANG-tier base comp in SF. Not even close. Maybe it’s on the low side of scrappy startup/scaleup comp.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Agreed, if you're going to be taking home 120k you're not going to get out ahead in SF.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It’s important to recognize that this is a tiny little company.

Around noon, Gupta usually picks up lunch for the team at nearby MIXT Salads. The workers usually eat together at a table in the office.

The founder can pick up lunch for everyone. So we’re talking what, 8 people?

There are 8 people out there who have nothing in their lives except for work and want their job to feel like a life. They get some kind of thrill from the intensity and they have probably been sold a dream about what their stock options will be worth when the company makes it big on the AI boom. They’re young, single, socially orthogonal people and their home lives were probably desolate and depressing before they took this job. The job gives them a place they can always go and find other people, where they have something to do. I’m not excusing the horrible WLB but I can easily imagine a small number of people who go for this. We just have to remember how miserable much of humanity are.

We don’t have to generalize about capitalism, San Francisco, tech, or anything else from this guy. Not that you were but others ITT certainly are.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

84 fucking hours. If I worked 12 hours a day, every day, I wouldn't hit 84 hours unless I literally never had a single day off! That dude can eat my entire ass...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

recently i started telling candidates right in the first interview that greptile offers no work-life-balance, typical workdays start at 9am and end at 11pm, often later, and we work saturdays, sometimes also sundays. i emphasize the environment is high stress, and there is no tolerance for poor work.

The fact that he ever gets through that interview without the candidate laughing themself right out of his office is just baffling.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Pretty sure it's cause he's a privileged man baby who's "job" is going to luxurious lunches, etc.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 weeks ago

So he's proud to be a slaver.

May he drop dead of a heart attack at age 25, alone, umloved, and unmourned.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Fuck that, I’m happy with my 32-hr workweek. Wouldn’t even want to do 40 again…

Dev in Europe with a comfortable life.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It is proven that is more cost efficient to let your workers not work more than 40 hours but instead use two people

Work done per hour goes way up, if work hour per week is low

Meaning in the end you pay less for the same work and get it faster

Stupid CEO…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Good thing they don't pay hourly wages then.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you read my comment correctly?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

Yeah. They don't pay less, though. They pay one person what other companies pay people to work 40 hours as a salary and make them work 80 or more. They may only get 60 hours worth of productivity in those 80 hours "worked", so yeah they'd get more productivity out of two people working 40 hours each or probably even two workers working 30 hours each. But they are only paying one worker's salary and getting more than 40 hours labor.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

Except that's now how people work. You get increasingly less efficient the longer you work, so someone working 32 hours puts out more output than someone working 40 hours.

Companies that switched to 4 day work weeks saw sustained increases in productivity and satisfaction.

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1234271434/4-day-workweek-successful-a-year-later-in-uk

On the other side, companies that push for longer and longer hours tend to get people zombie-ing through the week and do less work. They just LOOK more productive cause they're physically present at their job and respond to messages beyond the work week.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 weeks ago

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 weeks ago

Sweatshop, it's called a sweatshop. You can dress it up however you want, at the end of the day, it's still a sweatshop ran by Mr Gupta, who probably thinks reading LinkedIn on your couch counts as working...

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's only ~17 hours a day if you take a weekend, or a breezy 12 hour day if you choose not to take off.

I wish we could make these assholes work the shifts they want to make others work.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

"Work" for them is remotely checking on things every now and then, send some emails, maybe a meeting or 2... He's not actually working 84 hours every week.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 weeks ago

He can San Fransuck on deez nuts!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago

This guy is the poster child for LinkedInLunatics

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

And when the company folds in 16 months you'll have achieved nothing...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

They'll just blame it on Biden or "communist liberal regulations" and learn nothing.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

I've worked 84+ hour weeks for extended periods and they are rough. On the body and on the mind. Your social life also suffers. People really shouldn't work like that.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Slavery is where such a work contract isn't outright illegal.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Fuck that guy

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