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A comment on No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation. Parent comment

Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by gnicholas on Thursday June 24, 2021 @01:41PM (#27621211)
It's true that the salary of a tech worker making $400k/yr is closer to that of a janitor making $40k/yr than it is to a VC making $4m/yr.

However, the lifestyle of the $400k/yr worker is probably closer in most important aspects to that of the VC than the janitor. Both drive expensive cars, live in expensive houses, and can set up their kids for success. They don't worry about the cost of food (even organic/local/etc.) or worry much about health care.

Put another way, there are probably some $40k/yr janitors who would give their left arms to be making $400k/yr. But I doubt there are any $400k/yr tech workers who would give their left arm to be making $4m/yr.

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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by Apocryphon on Thursday June 24, 2021 @02:04PM (#27621573)
The majority of tech workers are not making $400k/year.
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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by gnicholas on Thursday June 24, 2021 @02:23PM (#27621827)
For sure. GP made a claim about the highest-paid tech workers, and I responded to that claim.
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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by mkr-hn on Thursday June 24, 2021 @03:10PM (#27622471)
I meant to imply a range that peaks at the highest. Maybe that construction isn't as common and implicit as I thought.
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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by gnicholas on Thursday June 24, 2021 @03:27PM (#27622674)
Yeah I figured you didn't mean the actual highest paid individual, and from past HN discussions I've seen that there are some folks making over $500k/yr at FAANG. I picked $400k because it's not uncommon for that to be the total comp for mid-career FAANG tech worker. But I could be wrong — I'm a bootstrapped founder who used to be a Silicon Valley lawyer, so my information comes from friends or HN discussions.
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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by acchow on Thursday June 24, 2021 @05:46PM (#27624224)
I think the concept you're looking for is "discretionary income", which I do believe the VC may have 20x more discretionary than the tech worker, who may have 50x more discretionary income than the janitor.
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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by bluefirebrand on Thursday June 24, 2021 @03:31PM (#27622715)
> But I doubt there are any tech workers who would give their left arm to be making $4m/yr

I'm a software dev, I don't make 6 figures. I'd probably give my left arm to make $4m/year, I could afford a robot arm with that I'm sure.

$4m/year means I could retire before I'm 40 and live the rest of my life with the lifestyle I have now with comfort. Even missing an arm that sounds way better than toiling in software for another 25-30 years.

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Re:No evidence that chance meetings in office boosts innovation by ric2b on Friday June 25, 2021 @12:57PM (#27633374)
> $4m/year means I could retire before I'm 40 and live the rest of my life with the lifestyle I have now with comfort.

I would be able to retire after 1 year, $4M is enough to just stick in an index fund and live the rest of your life on 4% a year, unless you live in a very high COL area.

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