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Comment by frequentnapper | Hacker News Reader

I don't know of any software company that would hire an introverted person who can't articulate themselves for 20k a month. This is how micro-service architected fully optimized solutions that solve the wrong problem happen. Do you really think the high value of a developer just comes from being able to pass coding challenges when there's millions of them out there?

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Eh, each of FAANG will do exactly that (as will other tech companies!). To be charitable to the parent commenter's point, they probably mean articulate in two senses:

1. Speaking perfect English, both fluently and without a heavy accent.

2. Talking about technical topics or other shibboleths with the same cultural affect an American would, as opposed to a foreigner. For example, many Indians will call a phone screen a "telephonic interview", and I've personally seen Americans react poorly to that.

I know lots of developers who are very well paid and very effective in their jobs, but they don't speak English as well as an American and would stumble at certain cultural nuances.

Thank you for being charitable. I speak English well enough to fare in FAANG as senior engineer.

But I always notice how a native English speaker almost always speak perfect English. They pick the right word to use and many other small things that make their English superb.

You seem to be confusing english speaking ability with the ability to communicate and articulate well. Communication is not about being able to speak english perfectly, it's firstly about listening and understanding the context of requirements. It's about being approachable enough so that the clients/stakeholders want to work with you, and clarify things with you, which in turn leads to a product which is close enough to something that they needed.

I don't think they're confusing anything; I thought their use of the word, "articulate" was pretty apt.

No worries :) You speak English well enough that I agree you shouldn't have any problems communicating in a technical discussion. Personally I find thick accents to be a bigger obstacle to communication than stumbles in grammar. But realistically most engineers will be professional and charitable enough to work around either issue as long as you're earnest.

That's only 240k probably not for a base salary but total comp sure.

It's a total comp. I'm not sure why we don't talk about TC especially when it's a public company.

Well, I have a bridge to sell you if you believe it's total comp.

That's perfectly in line with expectations for a new inexperienced hire at a FAANG. If anything, it's a little high for entry-level even at these companies. Obviously much higher numbers are attainable via career progression or already having such a job to negotiate from as leverage.

I've seen messy devs who absolutely can't articulate themselves, to the extent that when they tried, everybody else would keep awkward silence, and yet they made 60k/month.

What do those devs do to make 60k/month?

720k TC is hard to attain but possible.

Any decent engineer joining Facebook in 2012 and sticking there until now would earn 60k a month.

Isn't that because of the stock which just happened to appreciate that much, not because Facebook wants to pay them 60k / month?

Yes, that's correct.

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