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Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

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Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#121

Post by logicallee »

tdicola wrote: post #72
logicallee wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good comment. What are your thoughts on including: - "jump ship literally tomorrow salary requirement" (base, equity, signing bonus) regardless of whether you're looking, and an anonymized means of contact. It literally can't hurt. I don't think it even gives off any signal. I mean if you saw "$130K/undisclosed options/Bay Area/ Jump ship literally tomorrow: $180K + $15k signing bonus" it's next to no information. Th…

The data is going to get really stale. What my jump ship tomorrow number is today will probably be vastly different in a year, two years, etc. Not to mention how does it help someone who just wants to see how their salary compares to others?

That person could leave it blank.

But as for the staleness issue you raise - that could be quite easy, the automated contact could be "tdicola, you have received a message about your jump-ship number", it can list whatever the person wanted to send you, and if it's stale data you could update it on the spot or remove yourself from that kind of search.

I would think most people "have their jump-ship-tomorrow price", and updating it whenever you receive an offer that's outdated (and based on old info) means it would stay more or less current.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#122

Post by callmeed »

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…

Yeah, the "Additional Comments" are just as interesting to me. For example:

"Expedia sucks! Don't come here ..."

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#124

Post by joshmanders »

Glyptodon wrote: post #111
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…

I know the feeling. I make $46k/year as (mostly) a Ruby on Rails/Javascript dev, but without moving to another city (likely in another state), there are no reasonable alternative job prospects. Not really okay with it, but I don't want to move to NY/SF/LA as lifestyle there is so much more miserable. (Current work: 7 to 15 minute commute, decent time off, can be hiking in the great outdoors within 30 minutes, and sti…

My point exactly. I'd not be able to support my family as well as I do in SF on even typical engineer salary. Cost of living alone makes my "low" salary worth it to me.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#125

Post by pcurve »

Glyptodon wrote: post #111
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…

I know the feeling. I make $46k/year as (mostly) a Ruby on Rails/Javascript dev, but without moving to another city (likely in another state), there are no reasonable alternative job prospects. Not really okay with it, but I don't want to move to NY/SF/LA as lifestyle there is so much more miserable. (Current work: 7 to 15 minute commute, decent time off, can be hiking in the great outdoors within 30 minutes, and sti…

I don't know what state you are in, but that is very low for RoR/JS dev. There are remote-only positions that would pay double that easily. That would mean 0 minute and you can stay where you are.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#126

Post by Glyptodon »

antonioneffy wrote: post #55
akhilcacharya wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All depends on the area ;) Best offers I have seen out of college is $130K total comp from random people on the internet, haven't seen anything better yet.

I'm just wondering why a lot of these people with tons of experience are settling for sub-$70k jobs. Is there a reason for this?

It's simple. Nobody hires in the cities I want to live in, or if they do, it's mostly defense related work I won't touch.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#127

Post by callumlocke »

Karunamon wrote: post #65
efuquen wrote: post #36

Wow, you're literally being downvoted for just making an observation. Pretty sad for this community.

Probably because it's a remarkably uninteresting observation, combined with weariness towards the topic of gender politics (see the mess downthread). I could have told you that HN readership skews male. Throwing the "observation" out there feels like an invitation to argue. Apparently meta-observations aren't taken well either :)

0 out of 90 is interesting.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#128

Post by yitchelle »

logicallee wrote: post #62
yitchelle wrote: post #32

Same issues with the other salary data aggregators. Missing the following. * currency, * country, * industry, * permanent or contractor * residential status, * remote or onsite, But I agree, if the data can be trusted, this is all you need.

Good comment. What are your thoughts on including: - "jump ship literally tomorrow salary requirement" (base, equity, signing bonus) regardless of whether you're looking, and an anonymized means of contact. It literally can't hurt. I don't think it even gives off any signal. I mean if you saw "$130K/undisclosed options/Bay Area/ Jump ship literally tomorrow: $180K + $15k signing bonus" it's next to no information. Th…

Personally, "jump ship tomorrow salary requirement" is one of many items used to decide whether to actually jump ship or not.

At the end of the day, these type of data is only one aspect to consider when deciding what to do next, or even to contemplate the next step. Having these data available adds another input into the mix.

Re: Why not just a simple spreadsheet of salaries?

#130

Post by nemo44x »

evtothedev wrote: post #17

Does anyone know why engineering salaries are so low in Chicago? Especially with regards to city size / cost of living / amount of tech? It baffled me when I lived there, and it still baffles me when I don't.

Chicago is so incredibly cheap compared to NYC or SF. You can actually afford to own something in the most desirable parts of Chicago and can still have the benefit of not having to own a car in many cases. I thought about relocating to Chicago (it's a great, underrated city) and was shocked how cheap the rent was in places like Lincoln Park. I could just buy a place. I can't say that about NYC or SF where rents are more than double. What you pay $3,300.00/month for in NYC or SF you can get for $1,500.00/month in Chicago.

Places I looked at also included parking. In a place like NYC or SF a parking spot can cost over $800.00/month. There's just so many wealthy people in NYC and SF and so much more demand for limited living space.

Cost of living will influence salaries a lot.

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