4 ms·

I'd put my salary on there, but it's a specific number in the $400k-$800k range (yes, base), which is basically identifiable. I may be the only person at my com

I'd put my salary on there, but it's a specific number in the $400k-$800k range (yes, base), which is basically identifiable. I may be the only person at my company on this specific number. (And I'm nervous about tightening that range up any more!) How many other highly paid professionals have the same hesitation? The really high salaries may never be part of an anonymous survey like this, where you are required to be that specific.

ocdtrekkie 11y ago
Yeah, there's several on here already that are almost certainly identifiable, if the employer intended to figure it out.
AceJohnny2 11y ago
At that cost to the company, what are you doing on HN on a Monday afternoon? I kid, I kid ;)
- poooogles 11y ago
  I'm going to assume he works for one of the big trading firms with that level of pay.
S4M 11y ago
Can you put a vague description of what you're doing so we can get an idea of what job can command this level of compensation?
- throwaway_7531 11y ago
  Lots of things involving cloud computing, performance, SRE, software development. I'm still an individual contributor, although I consult with many others. I'm often working at the cutting edge, problems that haven't been solved before, but not always. Whatever the company needs I'm happy to do, whether it's glamorous or not. AFAIK, to get to my range and beyond, you need to be a top performer (and bring a multiple in value of your salary to the company), be an expert in in-demand technologies (ones that aren't really in demand don't count), have a good network including senior managers / executives at companies that want to hire you, and you need to know how to negotiate. And, you can't negotiate if you don't know what others are paid. Surveys like this should be helpful.
  - exadeci 11y ago
    You can NOT include the company name, on a side note Netflix employees seems to be really well paid (300-400k)
    - hyperbovine 11y ago
      Netflix has a slightly unusual compensation structure. Basically everything is frontloaded into the annual salary. No bonuses. No soft benefits. Health care allowance is like $15k a year and is (I think) also folded into salary. This has the added benefit of making it very hard to poach Netflix employees since they'll be taking an almost automatic $100k salary cut to go work somewhere else (even it if comes out even on paper, the optics are bad). I only know all this from talking to a friend who tried to poach a Netflix employee, maybe someone who actually works there can chime in.
      - ohashi 11y ago
        That's brilliant.
beeboop 11y ago
Why not just change it by 50-75k? You're a pretty big outlier anyway, not like it matters in terms of median.
- throwaway_7531 11y ago
  Not sure that'd work. Lets say it was $700k, and I adjust it by 50k to remain anonymous (I'd be more inclined to pick last year's salary, so at least it was a true number, but anyway). I'd guess my company only has a few engineers post $500k, so chances that I'm alone -- and identifiable -- by posting a 650-750 range seems high. The bigger problem isn't my individual case, but how many other engineers are in a similar range and never participate in surveys like this. I don't know.
  - beeboop 11y ago
    I would assume you make that much because you bring that much value to the company. I doubt anyone who's a supervisor of yours would see it, care if the saw it, would be willing to fire you if they cared, and would be willing the risk a lawsuit for firing you for an illegal reason (in the US it's illegal to discourage salary discussion). Worst case scenario you leave a toxic environment behind and get a similarly paying job at a better place. In summary, I wish I had your problems :)
imh 11y ago
The only required fields are job title and base pay. Round your pay and fudge the title a bit. Only add the other info that won't ID you, slightly changing details as you go (round numbers, nearest metro area, etc)
zeroonetwothree 11y ago
Why do you care if your employer knows you filled out a random google doc with your salary?

ocdtrekkie 11y ago

Yeah, there's several on here already that are almost certainly identifiable, if the employer intended to figure it out.

AceJohnny2 11y ago

At that cost to the company, what are you doing on HN on a Monday afternoon? I kid, I kid ;)

poooogles 11y ago
I'm going to assume he works for one of the big trading firms with that level of pay.

S4M 11y ago

Can you put a vague description of what you're doing so we can get an idea of what job can command this level of compensation?

throwaway_7531 11y ago
Lots of things involving cloud computing, performance, SRE, software development. I'm still an individual contributor, although I consult with many others. I'm often working at the cutting edge, problems that haven't been solved before, but not always. Whatever the company needs I'm happy to do, whether it's glamorous or not. AFAIK, to get to my range and beyond, you need to be a top performer (and bring a multiple in value of your salary to the company), be an expert in in-demand technologies (ones that aren't really in demand don't count), have a good network including senior managers / executives at companies that want to hire you, and you need to know how to negotiate. And, you can't negotiate if you don't know what others are paid. Surveys like this should be helpful.
- exadeci 11y ago
  You can NOT include the company name, on a side note Netflix employees seems to be really well paid (300-400k)
  - hyperbovine 11y ago
    Netflix has a slightly unusual compensation structure. Basically everything is frontloaded into the annual salary. No bonuses. No soft benefits. Health care allowance is like $15k a year and is (I think) also folded into salary. This has the added benefit of making it very hard to poach Netflix employees since they'll be taking an almost automatic $100k salary cut to go work somewhere else (even it if comes out even on paper, the optics are bad). I only know all this from talking to a friend who tried to poach a Netflix employee, maybe someone who actually works there can chime in.
    - ohashi 11y ago
      That's brilliant.

beeboop 11y ago

Why not just change it by 50-75k? You're a pretty big outlier anyway, not like it matters in terms of median.

throwaway_7531 11y ago
Not sure that'd work. Lets say it was $700k, and I adjust it by 50k to remain anonymous (I'd be more inclined to pick last year's salary, so at least it was a true number, but anyway). I'd guess my company only has a few engineers post $500k, so chances that I'm alone -- and identifiable -- by posting a 650-750 range seems high. The bigger problem isn't my individual case, but how many other engineers are in a similar range and never participate in surveys like this. I don't know.
- beeboop 11y ago
  I would assume you make that much because you bring that much value to the company. I doubt anyone who's a supervisor of yours would see it, care if the saw it, would be willing to fire you if they cared, and would be willing the risk a lawsuit for firing you for an illegal reason (in the US it's illegal to discourage salary discussion). Worst case scenario you leave a toxic environment behind and get a similarly paying job at a better place. In summary, I wish I had your problems :)

imh 11y ago

The only required fields are job title and base pay. Round your pay and fudge the title a bit. Only add the other info that won't ID you, slightly changing details as you go (round numbers, nearest metro area, etc)

zeroonetwothree 11y ago

Why do you care if your employer knows you filled out a random google doc with your salary?