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Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

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Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#281
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Is there any reason why these two values should be the same?" Are you producing the same value for the company as you did last year? If inflation is higher, then you are receiving less value via your pay from producing the same or more value for the company.

But a company will not usually downward adjust your salary during years of deflation. I think there is some risk management involved.

[deleted]

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#282

>the average tech worker’s salary [will] reach $104,566 in the U.S. — a 6.9% increase since 2020, the report found. But inflation is over 11% since 2020. This isn't an increase. The average tech worker is making less than they were 2 years ago according to the Dice salary report. Why do tech workers feel underpaid? Many companies posted record growth and profits over the pandemic, but still give out paltry 3-5% raise…

And to think, people working in IT actually get raises, and can earn more money by changing jobs; they are already quite privileged compared to those earning closer to minimum wage (like 30K a year?), given that said minimum wage hasn't been increased from $7.25 in 13 years now, while cost of living and inflation HAS gone up. One issue is that while costs of products, housing, etc is adjusted pretty much instantly wi…

> I don't know if that was the case for most people, it's what sitcoms depicted.

It wasn't. Bill, from the Cosby Show, was a physician, Tony, from Who's the Boss was a former baseball player, the dad from Full House was a TV broadcaster, etc.

It's probably the reason "blue collar" sitcoms were popular in the 90s (Rosanne, Grace Under Fire).

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#283
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only America's productive cities did not ban building more housing..

If only Americans reignited their imagination and didn't just settle on having a few big cities in opposite corners of the country. America is huge. There's land everywhere. Start dreaming. China has 160 cities with 1+ million people. We have 10. Granted, there is a massive population difference, but we should most definitely have more than 10. There are major issues when you only have a few cities with the bulk of t…

This is kind of ignoring all the positive effects from density. Yes, housing for density is hard. Yes, there are some negatives. But you would not get anywhere near the economic productivity you do from 330 Million people uniformly spread across the US as you do from having huge spikes in NYC and LA (and other metropolitan zones).

You also have to face the fact that as you spread people out, most costs go up. Cities subsidize suburbia and rural areas in the sense that cities generate more tax revenues of all types relative to costs. Suburban and rural areas mostly fail to raise enough tax revenue to pay for their own infrastructure and generally rely on various handouts from state and federal governments to build things like sewers and roads, which they then do not adequately maintain due to budget shortfalls.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#284

>the average tech worker’s salary [will] reach $104,566 in the U.S. — a 6.9% increase since 2020, the report found. But inflation is over 11% since 2020. This isn't an increase. The average tech worker is making less than they were 2 years ago according to the Dice salary report. Why do tech workers feel underpaid? Many companies posted record growth and profits over the pandemic, but still give out paltry 3-5% raise…

> Most devs will admit that they couldn't readily pass the interview at even their own company without many hours of studying and practicing algorithms.

I don't think, if asked to interview for it today, that I could land my current job. I'm also fairly certain I'm one of the top engineers on my team, and I do think we have a really good team of developers overall.

It makes me feel better that I'm not alone, in this regard, but it often just makes me question the interview process even further.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#285

>the average tech worker’s salary [will] reach $104,566 in the U.S. — a 6.9% increase since 2020, the report found. But inflation is over 11% since 2020. This isn't an increase. The average tech worker is making less than they were 2 years ago according to the Dice salary report. Why do tech workers feel underpaid? Many companies posted record growth and profits over the pandemic, but still give out paltry 3-5% raise…

What baffles me though is that its not like this crazy interview gauntlet is being maintained purely by HR. Engineers in those big tech companies are very protective towards those processes as well, and loudly protest if one would try to change them (complaining about lowering the bar, not hiring top tier talent anymore, etc.). And tbh, I would be afraid of what they would replace those LC interviews with. At least,…

> Engineers in those big tech companies are very protective towards those processes as well, and loudly protest if one would try to change them (complaining about lowering the bar, not hiring top tier talent anymore, etc.).

Hazing is a feature of almost every organization that is regularly recruiting new members.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#286

I'd guess a lot of people, regardless of industry, feel underpaid. Simply for the reason that they are. Growing inequality is real, over the last few decades an ever increasing portion of the productivity gain of the economy goes to a smaller portion of the people. We do the work, others get the profit.

Everyone seems to want something other than what they already have, and most assume more is better.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. Especially so if you are in a value-adding position and not something like internal tooling. Management and executives are DEFINITELY underpaying us relative to what we bring to the table for them. Maybe that is one of the reason headcounts have ballooned and complexity has increased so much -- an attempt to minimize individual i…

> The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. That's unfortunately not how markets work. If you create 10M of value every year, and are only paid 250K for doing it, it's because there is someone else out there who is willing to do it for the same. (Yes, there are asymmetries in information and power, but broadly, tech salaries are market-driven)

Problem is more that the contributions of an engineere are hard to quantify, so that 10M never gets compared to the 250k

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#288
It's subtle, but the headline feels a bit like low-key class warfare clickbait. No one feels underpaid because their salary is six figures, it's because of what they're paid relative to their peers and workload. The article actually covers this decently well, but the headlines makes it sound like techies are a bunch of entitled brats.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. Especially so if you are in a value-adding position and not something like internal tooling. Management and executives are DEFINITELY underpaying us relative to what we bring to the table for them. Maybe that is one of the reason headcounts have ballooned and complexity has increased so much -- an attempt to minimize individual i…

> The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. That's unfortunately not how markets work. If you create 10M of value every year, and are only paid 250K for doing it, it's because there is someone else out there who is willing to do it for the same. (Yes, there are asymmetries in information and power, but broadly, tech salaries are market-driven)

That's why people unionize. Hasn't happened to tech yet, don't know if it will, but it isn't a forgone conclusion this is how markets have to work.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a single person need to buy a 3 bedroom home (the median American home size)? A household with two $120k earners can very comfortably afford a $1 million home at current mortgage rates.

In a world where property taxes, apartment maintenance fees, etc didn't exist, sure.

And prices that never go down (when people need to sell or refinance)
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