wtfeWays They Frame Engineering
日本語

South Koreavsthe United States

韓国とアメリカKRUS

Seen from South Korea: each line below describes the United States relative to South Korea.

Swap: see South Korea from the United States

Culture Map: eight scales

Erin Meyer's eight scales, sorted by how far apart South Korea and the United States sit, largest gap first.

Filled dot: South Korea, where you are looking fromHollow ring: the United States

Where you will notice the difference5 scales

  1. Communicating

    The United States spells things out more explicitly than South Korea (5 steps)

    South Korea +2, the United States −3, on a line from −3 (Low-context) to +3 (High-context).

  2. Trusting

    The United States builds trust through reliable work more than South Korea (5 steps)

    South Korea +2, the United States −3, on a line from −3 (Task-based) to +3 (Relationship-based).

  3. Leading

    The United States keeps less distance between boss and team than South Korea (3 steps)

    South Korea +2, the United States −1, on a line from −3 (Egalitarian) to +3 (Hierarchical).

  4. Evaluating

    The United States gives negative feedback more directly than South Korea (2 steps)

    South Korea +2, the United States 0, on a line from −3 (Direct negative feedback) to +3 (Indirect negative feedback).

  5. Disagreeing

    The United States is more willing to disagree openly than South Korea (2 steps)

    South Korea +2, the United States 0, on a line from −3 (Confrontational) to +3 (Avoids confrontation).

Not placed3 scales

These scales are left unmarked: either Meyer leaves a country off the scale or no source places it, and drawing it anyway would be guessing.

  • PersuadingMeyer leaves South Korea off this scale and describes its reasoning as holistic
  • Deciding, SchedulingNo source places South Korea on these scales
† position taken from a review or summary, not from Meyer's own chart.Positions are read by eye from Erin Meyer's published charts and rounded to seven steps. A step means “further towards that pole”, not a measured distance. How the positions were read

Hofstede: six dimensions

Scores from 0 to 100, sorted by the gap between South Korea and the United States. They describe national averages, not either country's character.

  1. Uncertainty avoidance

    The United States scores 39 points lower than South Korea (46 against 85)

    South Korea 85, the United States 46, on a line from 0 (Tolerant of ambiguity) to 100 (Avoids ambiguity).

  2. Indulgence

    The United States scores 39 points higher than South Korea (68 against 29)

    South Korea 29, the United States 68, on a line from 0 (Restrained) to 100 (Indulgent).

  3. Long-term orientation

    The United States scores 36 points lower than South Korea (50 against 86)

    South Korea 86, the United States 50, on a line from 0 (Short-term) to 100 (Long-term).

  4. Motivation towards achievement and success

    The United States scores 23 points higher than South Korea (62 against 39)

    South Korea 39, the United States 62, on a line from 0 (Consensus-oriented) to 100 (Decisive).

  5. Power distance

    The United States scores 20 points lower than South Korea (40 against 60)

    South Korea 60, the United States 40, on a line from 0 (Low power distance) to 100 (High power distance).

  6. Individualism

    The United States scores 2 points higher than South Korea (60 against 58)

    South Korea 58, the United States 60, on a line from 0 (Collectivist) to 100 (Individualist).

Country averages. About 80% of variation in values is between people inside a country (Taras et al. 2016).Source: The Culture Factor — Country comparison tool (2026).About the Hofstede dimensions

What the sources say, theme by theme

Entries for South Korea and the United States, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.

Design & quality

South Korea3 claims

United States3 claims

  • At Google, engineers write a relatively informal design doc before writing code. According to Malte Ubl (2020), the point is not an exhaustive specification but a record of the trade-offs and alternatives considered.

    Thin1 source2020us-design-1

  • Ubl says a design doc should be as long as necessary and as short as possible, and distinguishes it from a heavyweight waterfall-style specification.

    Thin1 source2015Datedus-design-2

  • Meyer places the United States on the applications-first side of the Persuading scale. A book summary describes this as starting from conclusions and examples and favoring the practical how over the theoretical why.

    Thin1 sourceus-design-3

Failure & risk

South Korea3 claims

United States2 claims

Feedback & code review

South Korea2 claims

United States3 claims

Hierarchy & decisions

South Korea4 claims

United States2 claims

Communication & docs

South Korea2 claims

United States4 claims

Work & careers

South Korea7 claims

United States5 claims

  • According to the BLS, median employee tenure in January 2024 was 3.9 years overall, the lowest since January 2002. In the private sector it was 3.5 years.

    Well attested1 source2024us-work-1

  • At-will employment is the default in every state except Montana. Unless the reason is illegal, either the employer or the employee can end the employment relationship at any time.

    Well attested1 sourceus-work-2

  • According to layoffs.fyi figures cited by TechCrunch, tech layoffs in 2024 exceeded 150,000 people at 549 companies. The peak was 2023, with about 260,000.

    Attested1 source2024us-work-3

  • In the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025, 45% of US respondents work fully remote, the highest share among the top responding countries. Median salaries were $200k for engineering managers, $175k for back-end developers, and $138k for full-stack developers.

    Well attested1 source2025us-work-4

  • In Staff Engineer (2021), Will Larson sorts Staff+ individual-contributor roles, which do not require becoming a manager, into four archetypes: Tech Lead, Architect, Solver, and Right Hand.

    Attested1 source2021us-work-5

Open source & community

South Korea4 claims

United States2 claims

  • According to Octoverse 2025, the number of US developers on GitHub grew from 10.2 million in 2020 to 28 million in 2025, the most of any country. The US ranks second to India in open source contributors and first in total contributions.

    Well attested1 source2025us-oss-1

  • The same Octoverse 2025 report says the US, UK, and Canada more than doubled their developer counts from 2020 to 2025, while India and Brazil more than quadrupled. Its 2030 projection puts India ahead of the United States.

    Well attested1 source2025us-oss-2