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Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

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Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#61

Post by shostack »

sp_ wrote: post #25
winslow wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't heroku do that automatically and scale to meet demand? I thought that was one of the selling points of "the cloud"?

Possibly, but not on the free tier. Anyway, our current plan can only handle 20 concurrent connections to Postgres and I am not planning to pay more to satisfy spikes.

Can you clarify on why not? If you get interest and a big news hit, isn't it important to you to capitalize on that as much as possible and leave a good impression so people come back to use your service?

If you don't have the funds that's one thing and I get it, but seems like spikes are exactly the kind of thing worth spending on.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#62

Post by johnward »

otakucode wrote: post #60
JimboOmega wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say you're being underpaid; what is the right strategy to take? I don't want to poison the working relationship with people above me.

You are expected to leave the company. Raises are kept far, far below the rate at which employees actually accrue value in order to ensure that employees do not stay at a company for longer than 4 or 5 years. After 4 or 5 years, the gap between what you would make anywhere else and what you can make where you already are is enormous. There is a quote from hundreds of years ago which applies. "Make game of that which…

I believe this to be true. However, in some cases you can get a competing offer and have your current employer match it. My experience is that suggesting you are underpaid without a competing offer doesn't get you very far. Most employers will pay you as little as possible given the market and in the tech market you can jump ship.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#63

Post by rmc »

shostack wrote: post #59
kyrra wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(this is assuming a large company) Raise an issue with them that you feel you're being underpaid. I've done this in 1-on-1 meetings with managers in the past. If they think you're worth keeping, they will do what they can to give you a raise when the time comes. But keep in mind that other people on their team maybe be underpaid more than you, so they might try to correct those people's salaries first. At least from…

Worth noting that what you proposed with regards to presenting a competing offer to your current employer is typically a card you only play once. More than that and you tend to be viewed as a mercenary who causes problems. Plus, the people you are presenting this to will quite likely feel like they've had a gun put to their heads in a situation they may have very little direct control over, and nobody likes being put…

Also, don't do it without being ready to make the switch--you never know when your company will call your bluff and say "ok, enjoy your new job, your last day is today."

That heavily depends on your region. In places like the EU you cannot be fired on the spot for something like that.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#64

Post by seanflyon »

vonmoltke wrote: post #56
danielweber wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schedule a meeting with supervisor. At the meeting, bring up how well the company is doing and how well you are doing. Ask for a raise. You don't need to say where you got your number, or complain that you were underpaid before. Go in knowing your market salary -- which they probably know anyway. EDIT This isn't a surefire plan; as the sibling comment says, sometimes you have to leave to get paid your market.

I loved the line a manager at my previous employer gave us circa 2011 about our terrible raises: "Well, the company is doing well, but since the economy sucks and unemployment is at 8% the company feels like we should be fortunate to have jobs and thus doesn't feel like they will lose anyone over salary." It should be noted that, from 2006 until I finally got out in 2012 I saw two people leave for outside opportuniti…

That's when you should get another offer. Either you put yourself in a great negotiating position, or you realize that they were right and feel fortunate to have your current job.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#65

Post by johnward »

syntern wrote: post #52
johnward wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a citizen the salaries are almost double my rate for same position/same company.

Is it a large or small company? How long have you been there? Are you looking only at the base salary part? (e.g. for the reference my total compensation is almost double than my base salary)...

I've decided that due to company policies I shouldn't really say much more.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#66

Post by kyrra »

shostack wrote: post #59
kyrra wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(this is assuming a large company) Raise an issue with them that you feel you're being underpaid. I've done this in 1-on-1 meetings with managers in the past. If they think you're worth keeping, they will do what they can to give you a raise when the time comes. But keep in mind that other people on their team maybe be underpaid more than you, so they might try to correct those people's salaries first. At least from…

Worth noting that what you proposed with regards to presenting a competing offer to your current employer is typically a card you only play once. More than that and you tend to be viewed as a mercenary who causes problems. Plus, the people you are presenting this to will quite likely feel like they've had a gun put to their heads in a situation they may have very little direct control over, and nobody likes being put…

Very good advice, thanks for adding it, as I totally agree with all of it.

If you are friendly with any managers, it's good to find out the company's policy on competing offers. (I had a friend who was a manager in a different department, so I could find out company and HR policy on this kind of thing). Competing -offers is definitely something you only want to do if you are seriously about switching companies.

Different side story: My last job I was working out of a satellite office that was closed down as the company slimmed down to be bought out. We have around 50 people in the office. There was a 2nd and 3rd line manager that were cut when it all went down, so we were able to talk a bit more openly with them about it after the fact.

These managers were newer to the company and stunned at how low the salaries were for most of the individual contributors. They were doing the best they could to get salaries up-to-snuff, but when they were only given 3% (of the salaries of all their employees) to use to give raises, it was really hard to get people properly compensated.

Most lower-tier managers really do care for their employees, they just tend to be limited by corporate direction and what HR tells them they can and can't do.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#67

Post by seanflyon »

vampirechicken wrote: post #58
datamatt wrote: post #27

Does this include bonuses? Many companies (mine included) pay 40%+ extra in bonuses to bring people to the market level. (site is also down so I can't see)

If it takes bonuses to get you to market rates, then you're still underpaid.

This is not true. You are only underpaid if you compensation is below market rate compensation. If I got paid $1 plus a $1 million bonus I would not be underpaid.

You should consider how much risk you are willing to take and how likely it is that you will get a smaller (or larger) than expected bonus.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#68

Post by cedsav »

MaxwellM wrote: post #5

Lynn, FYI - these numbers reported to the DoL are not necessarily accurate and thus should only be used as a ballpark estimate. They are likely to be overestimates of actual numbers. Having seen H1B document submitted to the DoL, I know that firms misrepresent these numbers. An H1B is granted to immigrants for positions that ostensibly couldn't be filled by US citizens, this is rarely the case. Firms have to show tha…

You have to meet or exceed prevailing wages for the area/position. The reason is to make sure you're not underpaying foreign workers at the expense of local US candidates.

We sponsored H1B applicants in the past, and the numbers were reviewed by the lawyer who took care of the application. We also had to post the opening notice internally, with the salary offered. And finally, as others have stated, the number is known by the sponsored employee, so there's really no incentive to inflate that number.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#69

Post by sp_ »

shostack wrote: post #61
sp_ wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly, but not on the free tier. Anyway, our current plan can only handle 20 concurrent connections to Postgres and I am not planning to pay more to satisfy spikes.

Can you clarify on why not? If you get interest and a big news hit, isn't it important to you to capitalize on that as much as possible and leave a good impression so people come back to use your service? If you don't have the funds that's one thing and I get it, but seems like spikes are exactly the kind of thing worth spending on.

The website a weekend project, not something I care for whether people use it. On average it has five to ten visitors a day unless linked to from somewhere big which only happens like twice a year.

Re: Find salaries paid at companies using foreign worker data

#70

Post by danielweber »

shostack wrote: post #61
sp_ wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly, but not on the free tier. Anyway, our current plan can only handle 20 concurrent connections to Postgres and I am not planning to pay more to satisfy spikes.

Can you clarify on why not? If you get interest and a big news hit, isn't it important to you to capitalize on that as much as possible and leave a good impression so people come back to use your service? If you don't have the funds that's one thing and I get it, but seems like spikes are exactly the kind of thing worth spending on.

From my impression, I don't think it's any kind of for-profit service he's running where people are paying for and expecting uptime. He's taken a public data source and make it very easy for people to peruse it, and sees that as his reward.
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