ShopLitLive founder Toby Zhang describes developer working hours and cultural expectations in China.
Opinion
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.”
Assertion Supported
Zhang: Bay Area engineers cost 4 to 5 times more than Shanghai peers
“So an average engineer here in the Bay Area cost about four to five times the salary of one of equal caliber in Shanghai.”
Insight
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.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
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…”
Assertion Supported
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…”
Assertion Supported
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…”