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LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

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Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#151

Surprised no one has yet mentioned that this is probably an attempt to neuter Glassdoor. LinkedIn makes money by monopolizing recruiter time, taking money for job posts, etc. Glassdoor is a threat to that, and the single unique benefit Glassdoor offers is a salary estimate. I don't really see this as a fundamental shift in anything, just an attempt to tack on a competitor's featureset.

Yey! I can now go to Linkedin for the mean average of some pseudo-random numbers, cough sorry I meant salary information.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#152
post #150
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a LinkedIn account, and I would probably reopen one if I heard that they stopped their incessant spam emails. I'm surprised that they haven't been sued to MySpace and back for those email policies, which almost certainly are illegal in the United States. (This based on my experience, which ended 2 or 3 years ago when, after months of failed attempts, I managed to close my account.)

Can't you just disable it? I got emails only when someone is sending me a message or invites me.

iirc when you sign up, they sua sponte take all your contacts from [fb, Google, your phone, etc] and message all of them saying you have invited them to join LinkedIn. This is the scummy behavior I assume the poster is talking about.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#153
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For tech work, you can use H1B salary data (from somewhere like http://h1bdata.info/ ) as a minimum level for a position. Scale up by some percentage (10-20% in my experience) to get the median for what US citizens are likely making in the same position.

The problem is that this only includes base salary.

Yes, you're right. But base salary is the only reliable number to use for comparisons. If we get into things like startup stock options, value is effectively zero on a probability scale. Monetary bonuses are paid out based on all kinds of factors that may or may not come to pass, and have their own taxes associated with them. The only reliable extra comp I can think of would be RSUs and similar at large tech companies, but those are already fairly well known.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#154

This is never going to be accurate. Titles alone are a poor indicator of ability in software. E.g. I hold the title of "Senior Software Engineer" despite only have 2 years/4 mo. of experience and very little of that experience is project management or non-code things. When talking to recruiters in my area for a new position and giving a base salary of $90k, they routinely come back with "You won't get that offer with…

Totally agree. I'm the opposite -- been doing this for 25+ years, have done quite a few things in those years, but my current title is just "Developer." It doesn't mean much.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#155
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you just disable it? I got emails only when someone is sending me a message or invites me.

iirc when you sign up, they sua sponte take all your contacts from [fb, Google, your phone, etc] and message all of them saying you have invited them to join LinkedIn. This is the scummy behavior I assume the poster is talking about.

Not for years, they lost a lawsuit over that practice.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#156
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that this only includes base salary.

Yes, you're right. But base salary is the only reliable number to use for comparisons. If we get into things like startup stock options, value is effectively zero on a probability scale. Monetary bonuses are paid out based on all kinds of factors that may or may not come to pass, and have their own taxes associated with them. The only reliable extra comp I can think of would be RSUs and similar at large tech companie…

In my industry bonuses are as reliable as public company RSUs. To my knowledge, there is less public information on RSU grants and bonuses so I am puzzled by your last sentence.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#157
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's just all put down random number between $220,000 - $275,000 as base.

This reminds me of a funny conversation I had once with a recruiter. He essentially demanded I provide him a salary number to give to a prospective company, as I had been flatly refusing to on the basis that it puts me at a disadvantage. Eventually I threw out the highest amount I'd ever earned, about $225k a year total comp (partly tongue-in-cheek, partly to make a point), and he got really angry with me, telling me…

I've capped out my income at the moment, when recruiters talk to me I always try to force them into the compensation discussion first. Including risk discounts, expected future growth rates, etc. they quickly stop wasting my time.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#158

Hopefully LinkedIn won't ask me for my salary in the future. Cause I definitely don't trust them with my salary info. They'll sell it to everyone - recruiters, other companies...

This. If they give this salary to recruiters or do anything to hint at what a candidate's range might be, they will lose whatever trust they might still have.

In fact, I'd love to know what they can offer in the way of assurances against this.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#159
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iirc when you sign up, they sua sponte take all your contacts from [fb, Google, your phone, etc] and message all of them saying you have invited them to join LinkedIn. This is the scummy behavior I assume the poster is talking about.

Not for years, they lost a lawsuit over that practice.

I signed up with a fake name and throwaway email the other day and I couldn't believe the process. There were about 8 steps for entering more and more personal information and one of them was definitely allowing linked in access to my email account.

Re: LinkedIn launches Salary to chart what we earn

#160

I believe LinkedIn may have already reached its maximum potential and is on a downward trend. Of course I'm speaking only from personal experience, but as both candidate and hiring manager LinkedIn holds next to no value for me. I see it as a commons that has been largely ruined by recruiting agents who are incentivised by their employers to maximise candidate throughput at everyone else's expense. There is some resi…

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