Zhang: Bay Area engineers cost 4 to 5 times more than Shanghai peers
Toby Zhang · The Hidden Cost of 9-9-6: Why Bay Area Engineers Are Spoiled · Dec 20, 2020 · at 3:43
ShopLitLive founder and CEO Toby Zhang compares software engineering compensation and talent economics between Silicon Valley and Shanghai.
0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.4s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“So an average engineer here in the Bay Area cost about four to five times the salary of one of equal caliber in Shanghai.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Toby Zhang
Zhang: Many Bay Area software engineers are 'very spoiled'
“And quite frankly speaking, a lot of engineers in the Bay Area are very, in my opinion, spoiled.”
Zhang: 9-9-6 work schedule is commonplace rather than rare in China
“There's something in China called like nine nine six. Type of work style, which means they work from nine AM to nine PM, six days a week. Many companies have these kinds of policies around employees working on weekends. It's more commonplace than rare.”
Zhang: Real wealth comes from equity ownership, not a salary
“Actually in the world, other than celebrities and movie stars, no one is able to become really wealthy by taking a salary. The only way to get wealthy or to build wealth is to actually trade your salary for equity.”
Zhang: More startups will follow Shopee's model of local-first expansion
“I think one of one of such examples, it's a company called Shopee. So Shopee is a company, you know, that focused, you know, quite a bit in their local market first before expanding to kind of more widely in Southeast Asia. And I think we'll, we'll start to se…”
Zhang: Experienced Shanghai iOS developers earn $3,000 to $4,000 monthly all-in
“So if we take a look at salary levels for engineer in Shanghai, say someone with maybe seven to eight years of experience, let's just take the example of an iOS developer. Typical salary range for this person, assuming, you know, if he comes from a You know, t…”
Zhang: Eight-year Bay Area mobile developers make $200K-$250K all-in
“And then if we look at a similar engineer who has, you know, probably eight years of experience, mobile app developer in the Bay area either work for big company or early stage startups, you know, their starting salary is Somewhere like, 200 K, 250 K all in. S…”