Any info or insight on how common is it for companies that have both local and remote developers to offer different salary ranges based based on the employee's city/state/country? I am talking about regular full time remote employees ala 37signals, not lowest bidder outsourced contractors.
Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
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Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#2It's relatively common for their to be a gap between local and remote developers.
Buffer have been incredibly transparent about their approach to this: http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe...
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#3I'm in a big financial institution in the US and we have many remote and many local workers in the IT side. The only difference in pay (that I know about) is they might pay local more in some areas because the cost of living, and often the wages, are higher in that area (like San Fran). Only bummer is they're slowly doing away with the remote working.
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#4It's relatively common for their to be a gap between local and remote developers. Buffer have been incredibly transparent about their approach to this: http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe...
Incredibly transparent about their low-ball salaries.
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#5It's relatively common for their to be a gap between local and remote developers. Buffer have been incredibly transparent about their approach to this: http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe...
Incredibly transparent about their low-ball salaries.
What do you think they should be?
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#6It's relatively common for their to be a gap between local and remote developers. Buffer have been incredibly transparent about their approach to this: http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe...
As I read this, Buffer doesn't pay remote employees less. Rather, you're payed more if you work from expensive cities (eg. Hong Kong), than if you work from cheaper cities (eg. Bucharest)
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#7Preface: this is purely anecdotal.
I've worked at two companies where I was explicitly told that I was being given a lower offer because I was working remote instead of relocating. Both companies offered to pay me more if/when I decided to relocate.
Both companies had lousy policies regarding remote employees that left me feeling like a second class citizen within the organization. Poor communication practices, poor or absent advancement opportunities. Both jobs ended around the 8 month mark.
By comparison, two other companies that I've worked remotely made me excellent offers, had awesome policies, great communication, and provided merit raises. At those places I felt like I was on equal footing with all other staff.
So, anecdotally, yes, there can be a gap, but any company that is likely to pay you less as a remote developer probably isn't going to be a good company to work remotely for.
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#8Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#9It's relatively common for their to be a gap between local and remote developers. Buffer have been incredibly transparent about their approach to this: http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe...
Incredibly transparent about their low-ball salaries.
The salaries are low for San Francisco but high for most of the country. The people working remotely are getting a great deal, provided they're using the opportunity to live cheaply. The people working locally in SF not so much.
Re: Ask HN: Local vs. remote salary gap
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Incredibly transparent about their low-ball salaries.
What do you think they should be?
The SF salaries listed are really, really low. Where I'm currently contracting several of my colleagues converted to full time. Only the COO and CEO on that list earn more than their base salary. My hourly rate makes my salary-equivalent more than everybody but the CEO.
When I was a developer in a low cost of living area prior to moving to the bay area several months ago my salary was within 10% of the "Senior" engineer positions listed. This was at a non-profit, doing some really junior level CRUD work (so glad I'm not there anymore).
I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to discern whether that means the salaries are "lowball" or not. And it's for Buffer to determine whether it can afford more, what the Buffer-market-rate is, etc. Nobody else. Frankly I wish more companies were transparent about salaries. Information asymmetry is a killer when it comes to negotiations.