troels

Joined 19 years ago

Karma
3,051
Submissions
1,424
Member since
Dec 21
I'm a hacker. Working mostly with web applications. I live in Copenhagen, Denmark.

http://troelskn.com

mail: [email protected] twitter: @troelskn linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/troelskn mastodon: @[email protected]

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/troelskn; my proof: https://keybase.io/troelskn/sigs/HxfbJZIc0caMOKSsSacc1IitAgRFOj3q9vH_gGJz3jc ]

View on Hacker News

Recent submissions

Comment · 7 years ago
I wonder if that might backfire. I've been using Chromium for a while now, but whenever I need to see video, I copy paste the url over to Firefox. At some point, I'm going to be bothered enough to just switch permanently to Firefox.
Comment · 7 years ago
Yeah, but for those they have a cheat sheet next to the register.
Comment · 7 years ago
They stuck to it for a long time and the argument was indeed speed and to some extend ergonomics (the cashier doesn't need to lift up items). There is a system to it (100-199 is liquor, 400-499 dairy etc.), so it's fairly easy to memorise it.
Comment · 7 years ago
Some dialects allow you to hint to what index to use.
Comment · 7 years ago
wtf

Brought to you by the same folks who figured that locale settings should determine how CSV is generated/interpreted.

Comment · 7 years ago
And because everyone knows this, a contractor can easily charge 2-3 times what an employee makes - aka what they're actually worth. The system works (Except of course for the employees)
Comment · 7 years ago
This is the "common knowledge" thing to do, but I don't think it's always applicable. If you have an advantage in the market (e.g. are sought after), you can simply present a high figure and either they accept or you move on to the next. By playing the let-them-go-first game, you're implicitly signalling that you don't know where the ceiling is. On the other hand, if you say a high figure with confidence, they may accept it even if they weren't really prepared for that to begin with. Information asymmetry can also go the other way.
Comment · 7 years ago
You seem to assume that the company/management would act rationally. I'm going to guess that you are an engineer?
Comment · 7 years ago
This is very accurate. I think it might be somewhat true for the majority of the workforce though. For specialised roles such as developers, management etc. I think the spread is bigger.

If I were to guess, I would say that the lower bound is higher, giving a skewed distribution with a big bloc of salaries around the same avg. range. Couple this with a reluctance for high earners to speak openly about it and you have the illusion of everybody getting roughly the same.

A very clear sign that wages are kept superficially low, is that as a contractor I can get away with asking 3x what I would as a perm developer. In theory I get less job security this way, but in reality there is so much demand that this is a non-issue.

Comment · 7 years ago
It also seems to apply to all types of employees, not tech specifically. The executive is from ISS, which is a services company, not a tech company.
Comment · 7 years ago
Ok - Thought perhaps I was missing something. The analogy probably isn't a good fit for luxury watches, which is a truly weird industry. Rolex, with their near-mythological status could probably shut down all advertisement and still sell their watches.

But your original point might still be true, regardless.

Comment · 7 years ago
Curious - Where do you have the information fro that TAG have a smaller advertising budget than Rolex? I would've assumed the opposite.
Comment · 7 years ago
It really depends on why you want to join a startup/where you are in your career. If you are young, you probably want to focus on gaining experience and build your network. If you are older, you may value financial aspects more.
Comment · 7 years ago

    The Army decided some years ago to give every Company (~140 people) a Raven drone for recon. However, it's a huge deal if it gets lost (if the GPS guidance were to suddenly fail), so no one ever uses them to avoid the fallout associated with losing Army equipment.
That sounds like a serious problem?
Comment · 7 years ago
Same in Denmark, at least for DUI. You'll get roughly 10 x BAC x monthly salary (post tax). A local footballer famously got hit hard by this, with a fine of DKK 842K (~ USD 130K).

Live from the official Hacker News API

A modern reader for Hacker News · SvelteKit + Skeleton