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Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

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Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#321

Post by herbst »

vultour wrote: post #312
herbst wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you got downvoted. I travelled SEA and did some freelancing at Swiss rates. Now I live in Switzerland and earn internationally. By far the best I could do for my mental health once the wage slave thought took over.

How did you find clients?

Upwork. However I sent like 20-50 way to detailed 'offers' for every client which was unpaid, frustrating and boring.

Also the platform only got worse over the years in my opinion. I haven't done freelancing in a while but last time I tried I got way more competitors working for even less.

However I didn't need many gigs at a Swiss hourly rate to have a nice time in SEA

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#322

Post by robertlagrant »

spullara wrote: post #317
robertlagrant wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can't calculate 3 then how is there budget to hire you?

i don't know if you have worked in these organizations but they don't know.

I don't know to which organisations you're referring.

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#324

Post by sokoloff »

planede wrote: post #292
sokoloff wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could, but if you’re on a team of 6, all of whom work in the same general area (even if remote), there’s a cost to hiring someone 4 time zones away, let alone 8 or 10.

Yeah, but then don't say that it's just the cost of the replacement. Say that the same employee is just worth that much more if they are working from B instead of A, for X and Y reasons. Having said that, I am not really buying it. There are significant pay differences based on location even in the same time zone for the same remote work.

The problem on these threads is everyone is trying to boil a complex equilibrium of supply and demand across dozens of factors and billions of actors down to “it’s just this one or two things”.

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#325

Post by newaccount74 »

karaokeyoga wrote: post #259
quickthrower2 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind me asking: Did you get that job through a job board or connections?

Job board, no relationship to anyone at the company … they reached out to me (my resume was available on the job board).

Do you have some specific skill set or lots of experience in a domain the company was looking for?

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#326

Post by dojitza1 »

I think about it in terms of how much money I'd have left after all my expenses are covered with my current lifestyle. This includes Healthcare, education and travel opportunities. Once you account for this, the differences are easier to stomach, if still unfair.

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#327

Post by charlesdm »

Where are you based? If you are able to speak English well, the honest answer is that you can be making the same as EU/US based peers. But perhaps not at the same company.

Usually landing a remote position creates significant opportunities. My girlfriend, a talented senior designer, has increased her compensation nearly 5 fold from her previous work situation and now also works from home.

You ultimately get what you negotiate.

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#328

Post by gcommer »

herbst wrote: post #265
slyall wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-US worker I definitely agree. My big advantage over US-based employees is that I'll work for less. Why would I insist on getting paid exactly the same as a Bay-area employee when I could ask for significantly less and be well ahead of what I could make locally?

I was going to ask exactly that. Don't people in tech in the bay area work on average something like 60 hours a week? Barely anyone in Europe is working more than 40 (or 42) hours.

This is a common thought but it certainly hasnt been the case at any of the bay area startups or faangs I have worked at or interviewed for. Always 40 hrs.

Are there super heavy hustle places? Probably, but most places realize more time is not linearly more output for creative/knowledge work.

(Similarly, the internet would have you think anywhere offering "unlimited vacation" is a scam but I used and loved it)

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#329

Post by cbare »

It will be interesting to see what happens, as the tools for remote/async work keep getting better, workers get better at doing it, and employers get more used to it. To the extent that distributed teams compete well with single-location teams, wages should tend to even out.

Looks to me like this is already happening for high-end skills. And once those PhDs and 10x folks blaze the trail, it'll get easier for the rest of us.

Re: Ask HN: Location based pay is killing my motivation, how do others handle it?

#330

Post by a_imho »

Change location based pay to gender/race/religion/veteran/disability/etc* and half of the comments talking about market dynamics will have a very different ring to it. The change will be slow if it happens at all, after all many paychecks and bottom lines depend on not acknowledging the situation. The best you can do is probably raise awareness in the meantime and not feel shame about being demotivated.

https://elsajohansson.wordpress.com/2017/09/13/what-does-a-w...

*people are as much in control of their religion and veteran status as their location

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