He works 10 hours a day, makes more than £70,000 a year, doesn't bother to take holidays, dresses as he pleases, has never been happier and is looking for another job. This 33-year-old, white, university-educated creature is, according to the first comprehensive survey of the industry, the typical internet worker.
There is also a reasonable chance that his employer will arrange his dry cleaning, allow him to bring his dog to work, offer him free massages and give him stock options. And he still thinks people in other firms are doing better.
The profile of the typical internet employee has emerged from a survey carried out by the Industry Standard, the San Francisco-based news magazine of the internet economy. The typical worker, it appears, not only enjoys an income about three times the national average but also has the gall to enjoy himself.
Currently 2.5m people are employed by internet firms in the US and the results of the survey give plenty of reasons why so many people believe that the grass is indeed greener in Silicon Valley. Even after the economic downturn in April closed many of the over-optimistic start-ups, there is still a mood of enthusiasm and privilege among those still employed.
So what makes 51% of them"very happy"? "Challenging work" is given as the main reason and "salary" is unsurprisingly close behind. The respondents to the survey also listed working weekends and long holidays as indicators of the pleasures of the workplace. Only 13% were paid for the extra hours worked while 14% put in more than 12 hours' work on an average day.
"For the past two years, this workforce utopia has held the attention of everyone from Wall Street to Main Street," writes Maryann Jones Thompson in the Industry Standard's introduction to the survey.
"But it wasn't all about money. It was fun. What other job could a college graduate walk into at 10am wearing shorts and sandals? And spend days with his dog at his feet, working on projects that required real brain power - then leave at 9pm with a belly full of free food, a few happy-hour beers and a big fat check?"
The average income, consisting of salary, bonuses and commission, worked out at $104,000 with the average basic salary at $84,700. Given that around a third of the workforce is under 30 and often without family responsibilities, it is clear that for many new graduates - 88% of the workforce went to college - there is only one job in town.
Despite the recent influx of techno-migrants from India and other Asian countries, the industry remains predominantly white (83%) and around two-thirds male. The average age is 33.8
Internet firms know they must do all they can to keep their high-flyers, as only 20% say they are doing nothing to find another job and more than one in four reckon that by this time next year they will have a new employer.
More than two-thirds dress entirely as they please with 31% of them being offered a dry-cleaning service by their boss. Around 15% are offered free massages. Not that the jolly extras are to everyone's liking, with some complaining that the "non-stop party atmosphere" was almost as tyrannical as the old economy's tie-wearing deference.
In 1986, in his prophetic verse novel about Silicon Valley, The Golden Gate, writer Vikram Seth recounted how "...Silicon Valley / Lures to ambition's ulcer alley / Young graduates with siren screams / Of power and wealth beyond their dreams". The survey seems to confirm that the young graduates are still listening to the sirens, still dreaming and now may even have expert advice on how to deal with that ulcer.
Gravytrain.com
Average income £73,800
Average salary £60,100
Average private industry salary £22,300
Receive stock options 55%
Very satisfied with job 51%
Very satisfied with co-workers 70%
Likely to leave job in next year 28%
Average hours worked per day 10.1
Average percentage of vacation time taken 64%
Work one/more weekend a month 58%
Feel they earn less than others 45%
Offered dry cleaning service at work 31%
