Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#1

Post by rexarex » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:27 PM UTC

Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey
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Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#2

Post by iaw » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:58 PM UTC

A trend I've seen is using salary consultation services that peg the company compensation to rest of market. When enough of an industry does this it has the same result as price fixing but without collusion.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#3

Post by polskibus » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:01 PM UTC

That's all with a fairly strong USD. It means that outsourcing buys you more developers abroad than with cheap USD.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#4

Post by jgalt212 » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:08 PM UTC

iaw wrote: post #2

A trend I've seen is using salary consultation services that peg the company compensation to rest of market. When enough of an industry does this it has the same result as price fixing but without collusion.

I don't buy it. FAANG pays X, so other companies know they need to pay 1.3X to hire FAANG level engineers. So the info sharing may help FAANG collude, but it won't suppress wages for those who can be poached from FAANG. That's assuming there aren't any behind the scenes no-poaching agreements.

https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-others-settle-anti-po...

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#5

Post by xxxanony » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:10 PM UTC

jgalt212 wrote: post #4

iaw wrote: post #2

A trend I've seen is using salary consultation services that peg the company compensation to rest of market. When enough of an industry does this it has the same result as price fixing but without collusion.

I don't buy it. FAANG pays X, so other companies know they need to pay 1.3X to hire FAANG level engineers. So the info sharing may help FAANG collude, but it won't suppress wages for those who can be poached from FAANG. That's assuming there aren't any behind the scenes no-poaching agreements. https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-others-settle-anti-po...

I'm not so sure... plenty of software engineers will gladly accept less than X to NOT work at a FAANG company.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#6

Post by monsk » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:15 PM UTC

xxxanony wrote: post #5

jgalt212 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy it. FAANG pays X, so other companies know they need to pay 1.3X to hire FAANG level engineers. So the info sharing may help FAANG collude, but it won't suppress wages for those who can be poached from FAANG. That's assuming there aren't any behind the scenes no-poaching agreements. https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-others-settle-anti-po...

I'm not so sure... plenty of software engineers will gladly accept less than X to NOT work at a FAANG company.

True, but another problem is that there are woefully few companies outside of FAANG that will even come close to a FAANG compensation.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#7

Post by jkingsbery » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

The article doesn't say, but I'm curious about the effect of the changing population has on this. I don't know the exact numbers, but if tech unemployment is low and salaries have remained on average the same, that could also be due to adding a lot of entry-level engineers. If that's the case then saying that tech salaries are "stagnant" could be misleading, because individuals in the population are not generally stagnating.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#8

Post by kamarg » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:20 PM UTC

jgalt212 wrote: post #4

iaw wrote: post #2

A trend I've seen is using salary consultation services that peg the company compensation to rest of market. When enough of an industry does this it has the same result as price fixing but without collusion.

I don't buy it. FAANG pays X, so other companies know they need to pay 1.3X to hire FAANG level engineers. So the info sharing may help FAANG collude, but it won't suppress wages for those who can be poached from FAANG. That's assuming there aren't any behind the scenes no-poaching agreements. https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-others-settle-anti-po...

Are there many companies that can pay 1.3x of FAANG compensation? One of the big reasons people go work at the big 5 is the pay.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#9

Post by conanbatt » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:22 PM UTC

iaw wrote: post #2

A trend I've seen is using salary consultation services that peg the company compensation to rest of market. When enough of an industry does this it has the same result as price fixing but without collusion.

Thats not how it works. You cant put prices unilaterally in a market: a single company offering more would capture all talent.

Re: Tech Salaries Stagnant Despite Low Unemployment: Survey

#10

Post by _bxg1 » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

I'd bet it's just a function of what people are willing to do the job for. $93k gives you a very comfortable lifestyle, and tech workers tend to be much more motivated by the work itself than their peers. Those who really care about getting rich will go to SV and do a startup. So there's not as much pressure for increase.