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Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

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Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#1

Post by logcounter »

I am a frontend developer at a consumer startup (~40 employees) in the Bay Area. Our company consists of three frontend teams and a backend team powering the frontend clients. Lately I have been feeling that I do not capture enough of the value that I provide.

My team is responsible for implementing all product specs before the other two frontend teams. As a result, I have a more accelerated timeline for all features and spend more time iterating the product (whereas following teams implement the last version). In addition to this pressure and accountability, I end up troubleshooting problems with the product/design specs as well as missing APIs or bugs in the backend.

Throughout the day I field questions from the backend team regarding what APIs I will need, and questions from the frontend teams regarding how I implemented features and what backend APIs to use. This guidance in addition to the troubleshooting I do are orthogonal to the deliverables I am responsible for.

I am young and paid fairly well, but having an accelerated timeline in addition to doing work that other teams should be doing, as well as guiding other developers, has started to make me feel undervalued. My title is "software developer" and my options comprise 1/500 of the company, with a large gap between me and the leadership team.

For the amount of hours, attention, and energy I put in, I feel that I could be earning more. I can write backend code in addition to my frontend code, follow the commits and progress of the other teams, and never need guidance or oversight. Even with my timelines, I always deliver.

Where do I go from here, or what is the accurate title for what I am doing at my company? Do I need to start my own company to capture more of the value I am creating? Do I need to ask for a significant change in position and be willing to walk away?

Re: Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#3

Post by RogerL »

I don't know your value, so, a counter argument to consider.

A company is not going to pay more than they have to. So, are you easily replaceable at your current compensation package? Then they really have little incentive to pay you more than that. Okay, it is hard to hire, and it is hard to have somebody walk away, but as an employer we are already used to revolving doors, so you know, we'll try to keep you, but not try too hard. "I'm making $150K and think I am worth $220K". "okay, I'll hire somebody else at $150K".

Not saying that is the position you are in, but if you walk in to negotiate a raise you need to understand what your replacement cost is, not just how much value you contribute. If your contribution is worth $10M/year, but a replacement can be hired for $50K (exaggerating to make a point), don't expect an ask for $750K to be honored even if that is 'cheap' compared to the value you add.

If you are contributing at the level you say you are, you should be able to make a strong case ("replacing me will cost you 2x my current salary").

Re: Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#4

Post by gerschlemben »

You will never be paid what you are worth. That is why your employer hired you.

If you want to earn more, your best shot is to move. Get a couple offers from GoogBook and enjoy earning 200k in your twenties.

If you want to make this feeling go away, that's a tough road. That means being a founder. The expected value is lower than GoogBook, but if it's bugging you in the right way, that doesn't matter.

Re: Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#6

Post by sliverstorm »

All of this will be colored by how long you have actually been there and the work you actually do, but-

I wonder if you are ready for more responsibility? As the scope of your work naturally broadens, and you get better at what you do, that can be an opportunity to move to working on bigger, harder problems that intrinsically have greater scope.

Also, don't forget that while it may feel like you are working your butt off, that doesn't mean your work is necessarily irreplaceable or core to the business's success. You put in tons of hours, attention, and energy, yes, but that alone does not make the work you do highly valuable.

Re: Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#7

Post by chambo622 »

gerschlemben wrote: post #4

You will never be paid what you are worth. That is why your employer hired you. If you want to earn more , your best shot is to move. Get a couple offers from GoogBook and enjoy earning 200k in your twenties. If you want to make this feeling go away, that's a tough road. That means being a founder. The expected value is lower than GoogBook, but if it's bugging you in the right way, that doesn't matter.

How realistic is it to earn 200k in your twenties? I'm familiar with the starting numbers at companies like Google and Facebook, which are very competitive but pretty far from 200k even with stock and bonuses.

Re: Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#8

Post by jkyle »

The answer is simple. It doesn't really matter if you're under or over appreciated. What matters is you think you are under valued. That never leads to a satisfying work week and often leads to less than your best output. So it's not good for anyone.

You should go out and interview. This is a good policy to do regularly regardless. Particularly if you're at a startup. You never know when it'll fail and it's good to keep your skills sharp and your options open.

But more importantly, if you get offers they could serve as a reality check or leverage to renegotiate your terms with your current employers. An employer shows their appreciation and how much they value you through money and benefits. If your'e not sure if those are sufficient, go out there and find out.

As far as whether you should start your own company. That's a completely orthogonal question that only you can answer.

Re: Ask HN: Well paid, but under-valued. Next steps?

#10

Post by logcounter »

sliverstorm wrote: post #6

All of this will be colored by how long you have actually been there and the work you actually do, but- I wonder if you are ready for more responsibility? As the scope of your work naturally broadens, and you get better at what you do, that can be an opportunity to move to working on bigger, harder problems that intrinsically have greater scope. Also, don't forget that while it may feel like you are working your butt…

Part of my belief now is that I have all of the work without the responsibility. If I was tasked next week with architecting code for the other teams, it would not be a huge shift.

How do employees usually transition up into roles such as architect, vp, etc etc?

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