Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#101

Post by joshmanders » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:51 PM UTC

melvinmt wrote: post #89

joshmanders wrote: post #69

This makes me wonder how many people are okay with being underpaid. Like my title is officially VP of Engineering. But because of the circumstances of my position and what I was hired to do, I am probably making less than what someone in my position gets in sign on bonuses. $30,000/yr This is because I am not only the first employee but the only employee (if you don't count CEO) and only technical person. I was hired…

Titles at startups (especially early-early stage) are somewhat negligible. Since you don't manage any engineers and not dealing with the responsibilities of a VP of Engineering of say, a 200-500 FTE startup, you shouldn't hinge too much on your title.

I'm really not hinging on it, I just gave it because title seemed to be requirement of this form. I really am just a software engineer, because like you said, in a 2 man company, titles really don't make a difference.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#102

Post by bherms » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:51 PM UTC

bpodgursky wrote: post #4

Is "Stock Value/Bonus" annual amortized or total?

Agreed... I was granted X options when I started over a 4 year vest... Those shares are worth a lot more now too... Is it my original price since that was the assumption when I was hired?

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#103

Post by home_boi » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:51 PM UTC

FreedomToCreate wrote: post #53

This is useless since people are not listing there employer or location and I see a bit of spam in that list as well. Not a good way to capture data.

Better sorting to push down all the entries without employer/location would fix this problem.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#104

Post by jotux » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

It's strange to me that these salary discussions are so narrowly focused on just pay/bonus and don't seem to care about benefits and work/life balance. Here's stuff I track in my own career spreadsheet and compare new jobs against these metrics when considering a new one:

    * Vacation, sick, and holiday time off
    * Distance to work and traffic considerations
    * Relative cost of living
    * Health insurance cost and coverage amount
    * Retirement benefits (401k, pension, etc)
    * Expected work hours per week

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#105

Post by stuff4ben » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #3

$122K in RDU seems very high for a developer/engineer, strange.

It's not that high. Cisco for one pays very well. Not sure about IBM, NetApp, or some of the others, but that's expected around here.

Uh, I mean, that was a total fluke, there are no jobs here, go on about your business... ;)

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#106

Post by jcoffland » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

chillydawg wrote: post #2

It's fun watching the rows appear :)

This is why you get paid so much.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#107

Post by joshmanders » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

carlmcqueen wrote: post #82

joshmanders wrote: post #69

This makes me wonder how many people are okay with being underpaid. Like my title is officially VP of Engineering. But because of the circumstances of my position and what I was hired to do, I am probably making less than what someone in my position gets in sign on bonuses. $30,000/yr This is because I am not only the first employee but the only employee (if you don't count CEO) and only technical person. I was hired…

All I can offer you is it only matters if you define yourself by your salary, which in my experience will only leave you feeling pretty hollow. I have worked for companies where I was underpaid but the work was great and the co-workers were amazing and now I work for a company where the work is boring but the pay is excellent (like you, for where I live) which makes more sense for my family right now. I'm okay with i…

In the near future I'd prefer to be making more. But when I was hired I specifically made it a requirement that I am paid at least enough to support my family and myself in the area. My state's average income is 24k/yr so I'm 6k above that. Which with my cost of living leaves me with a decent amount of money to survive and pay for my families needs.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#108

Post by vonmoltke » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

RickS wrote: post #66

vonmoltke wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need to look harder in RDU then, because I love North Carolina and would love the pay raise.

What's normal, in your experience, around the area? Thinking about moving out there and would love to talk more, email's in my profile.

Oh, I'm in Dallas. "Normal" here is apparently ~$95,000 for 10 - 15 years experience.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#109

Post by home_boi » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

jotux wrote: post #104

It's strange to me that these salary discussions are so narrowly focused on just pay/bonus and don't seem to care about benefits and work/life balance. Here's stuff I track in my own career spreadsheet and compare new jobs against these metrics when considering a new one: * Vacation, sick, and holiday time off * Distance to work and traffic considerations * Relative cost of living * Health insurance cost and coverage…

other data is just harder to crowd source/capture with all the different variations. For a google doc format, less is more.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#110

Post by cbeach » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

joshmanders wrote: post #98

ceejayoz wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope you're getting a big chunk of equity as the technical co-founder.

I'm pretty positive I'm in full control of this company. I've taken reigns and made all the decisions. CEO has pitched in his requests, but ultimately has put me in full control, that being said I'm sure while my title says VP of Engineering (for his parent company by the way) I will become the CTO and co-founder of this company when it launches.

Get equity or get out - make the promises binding.