4 ms·

They aren't lying, but you're witnessing a perfect example of selection bias: high-earners are much more likely to voluntarily share their salaries.

literallycancer 10y ago
Even when anonymous? --- I found this (relatively) old paper[1]. It mostly deals with reporting on government forms, but there is a little bit about sensitivity of the information reported. Singer, Von Thurn, and Miller (1995) have shown that assurances of confidentiality reduce nonresponse and/or increase the accuracy of responses to income questions and other sensitive survey topics. In addition, recent technological advances raise some possibilities for gathering income information under more anonymous conditions, without the direct involvement of an interviewer, which may substantially reduce sensitivity pressures and thus yield more complete reporting. Research is starting to show the benefits of anonymous reporting — for example, via audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (A-CASI) — on the quality of sensitive behavior reports (Turner, Lessler, and Devore 1992; Tourangeau and Smith 1996), although as yet there has been no clear demonstration that income reports would similarly benefit. Singer, Von Thurn, and Miller (1995)[2] concludes that assurances of anonymity affect response to questions about sensitive data, but other factors may play a role (such as trust in the interviewer, etc.), and the effect "is not large". 1 - https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/sm97-05.pdf https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/sm97-05.pdf 2 - http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=AdvancedSearch&qid=3&SID=3DgeNpCyAtKsc1gkW7W&page=1&doc=1 http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&se...
- toephu2 10y ago
  Yes. It makes them feel good about themselves showing they have a higher salary than others. Even anonymously, would you want to report your under average salary? I mean you could, but would you take the effort to create a throwaway account just to do that? Probably not.
  - literallycancer 10y ago
    As long as I knew it wouldn't make identifying me easier, I'd report the true value, since I think it's a good way to improve the awareness of software engineers as a whole (especially if most of us do it). Better informed actors can negotiate better. The only scenario where it's better to not disclose it is a one where I think I'm already making more than my worth (than I should, according to the market). Companies look down on sharing this information, because they have nothing to gain from it (or at least nothing easily measurable, and presentable as a gain to shareholders). Or am I missing something?
  - tomaha 10y ago
    I think it's also good if salaries are more transparent. I see too many people selling themselves short and thus getting lower salaries because they just don't know. If you're lucky you still get a nice salary but it's so much better to have an idea what you can ask for/should expect. Glassdoor etc is nice but at least for SV most of the time just not accurate and in my experience on the lower limit. I'm not sure why but it could be that people just share more often when they start a job and not when they just don't care anymore after a few years while making a lot more at the same/next company.

literallycancer 10y ago

Even when anonymous? --- I found this (relatively) old paper[1]. It mostly deals with reporting on government forms, but there is a little bit about sensitivity of the information reported. Singer, Von Thurn, and Miller (1995) have shown that assurances of confidentiality reduce nonresponse and/or increase the accuracy of responses to income questions and other sensitive survey topics. In addition, recent technological advances raise some possibilities for gathering income information under more anonymous conditions, without the direct involvement of an interviewer, which may substantially reduce sensitivity pressures and thus yield more complete reporting. Research is starting to show the benefits of anonymous reporting — for example, via audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (A-CASI) — on the quality of sensitive behavior reports (Turner, Lessler, and Devore 1992; Tourangeau and Smith 1996), although as yet there has been no clear demonstration that income reports would similarly benefit. Singer, Von Thurn, and Miller (1995)[2] concludes that assurances of anonymity affect response to questions about sensitive data, but other factors may play a role (such as trust in the interviewer, etc.), and the effect "is not large". 1 - https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/sm97-05.pdf https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/sm97-05.pdf 2 - http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=AdvancedSearch&qid=3&SID=3DgeNpCyAtKsc1gkW7W&page=1&doc=1 http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&se...

toephu2 10y ago
Yes. It makes them feel good about themselves showing they have a higher salary than others. Even anonymously, would you want to report your under average salary? I mean you could, but would you take the effort to create a throwaway account just to do that? Probably not.
- literallycancer 10y ago
  As long as I knew it wouldn't make identifying me easier, I'd report the true value, since I think it's a good way to improve the awareness of software engineers as a whole (especially if most of us do it). Better informed actors can negotiate better. The only scenario where it's better to not disclose it is a one where I think I'm already making more than my worth (than I should, according to the market). Companies look down on sharing this information, because they have nothing to gain from it (or at least nothing easily measurable, and presentable as a gain to shareholders). Or am I missing something?
- tomaha 10y ago
  I think it's also good if salaries are more transparent. I see too many people selling themselves short and thus getting lower salaries because they just don't know. If you're lucky you still get a nice salary but it's so much better to have an idea what you can ask for/should expect. Glassdoor etc is nice but at least for SV most of the time just not accurate and in my experience on the lower limit. I'm not sure why but it could be that people just share more often when they start a job and not when they just don't care anymore after a few years while making a lot more at the same/next company.