Back in the pre-bubble days of Web 1.0, we wrote a piece called, “How to Get Rich in Silicon Alley – The First Wave.”  We still have it, for those of you who’d like to see it; it’s too long to include here – and part of it was a ‘guide’ to how to keep employees chained to their desks by incentivizing them with anything but money, which, of course, as founders, you wanted to keep for yourselves.

That was then and this is now and not much has changed in all quarters of technology, except for company names and maybe a slightly different lexicon. ‘Millenials’ is a new one and we’re actually not attacking you all here, so calm down. This is meant to be instructional. Millennials are being dot.conned by cult-like tech companies, said this New York Post piece about “Fake Steve Jobs” Dan Lyons, a former HubSpot writer who now writes for “Silicon Valley,” as in the HBO show, and his experiences in the tech world – specifically, at HubSpot.  “A huge chunk of potential compensation at tech startups comes in the form of stock options, which could turn out to be worth nothing but are certainly worth nothing if employees get so burned out that they leave before the options vest,” reads the piece. “This is part of the plan. Tech firms basically operate like South African gold-mining operations, with confident young Tame Impala fans being the bodies thrown into the pit to break their backs digging up nuggets. All of the IPO gold, though, goes straight into the pockets of their masters topside.”

You know how it goes: unless you’re the lead dog, the scenery never changes. Read More...

Of course, it’s really one point, when you get down to it. Between the high California taxes, outrageous rents ($250K Per Year Salary Could Qualify For Subsidized Housing Under New Palo Alto Proposal) and mushrooming number of H1B visa holders taking jobs formerly filled by American-born workers, meaning that American-born workers would have to take a considerable pay cut to compete with the auslanders, it’s all about quality of life. As a recruiter, we will honestly tell you that salaries for tech workers haven't significantly changed since the ‘90s, despite the fact that the cost of living has risen considerably in the venerated tech hubs - specifically, Silicon Valley and New York City - and rent/home ownership costs have skyrocketed.   And lest we forget, “…More than 80 percent of H-1B visa holders are approved to be hired at wages below those paid to American-born workers for comparable positions,” according to Mother Jones.

Former Intel chief and Silicon Valley icon Andy Grove died last week and a good time to remember Andy Grove’s Warning to Silicon Valley. ‘According to Mr. Grove,” says the article,  “Silicon Valley was squandering its competitive edge in innovation by failing to propel strong job growth in the United States…. Silicon Valley misjudged the severity of those losses, he wrote, because of a “misplaced faith in the power of start-ups to create U.S. jobs.” … But just as American companies have bolstered their profits by exporting jobs (or hiring H1Bs), many now do so by shifting profits overseas. “… All of us in business have a responsibility to maintain the industrial base on which we depend and the society whose adaptability — and stability — we may have taken for granted,” said Grove. Silicon Valley and much of corporate America have yet to live up to that principle.’