5 ms·

> Companies tend to price you at the city you live in, not the value you provide. People tend to price a glass of water at how expensive drinks around the plac

by dozzie 9y ago

> Companies tend to price you at the city you live in, not the value you provide. People tend to price a glass of water at how expensive drinks around the place are, not the value this glass provides (crucial for life). Do you find this irrational or otherwise wrong?

Will_Parker 9y ago
It would be irrational to pay more for water from France vs water from the tap, if they're the exact same product.
- dozzie 9y ago
  ...unless you can't get water from tap and the only thing that seems to fit your criteria at this moment is the water from France, and thus you need to convince the water from France to get to you instead of some local buyer.
pound 9y ago
or you may think of it as pricing the value you provide at how expensive that value around the place companies are in
- dozzie 9y ago
  It's silly to expect a company to voluntarily pay more when it knows it can pay less for the same service.
jpitz 9y ago
It certainly places a bizarre incentive on getting a PO box in SF/NYC/DC, where doing so would not make me anymore productive or valuable.
sidlls 9y ago
Do you suppose there are differences between "glass of water" and "human being with skill between marginally and significantly better than average"? But I agree with you if you are pointing out that it's terrible that developers who aren't in the valley (or similar regions) don't demand higher wages, allowing employers to get away with paying based on location instead of value.
- itake 9y ago
  same. I totally understand if a company just doesn't have the budget for an SF engineer, then they shouldn't hire from there. But if they do have the budget and they still want to price you to your city, then boo on them.
itake 9y ago
Remote companies frame the comp problem as: we want to be fair to our employees such that our dev in SF doesn't feel "poor" compared to our devs in middle America. My opinion is living in an expensive city is a life choice. Just like choosing to purchase a BMW or a new home. You should not be paid more because you own a BMW and your co-worker drives a 10 yr old Toyota. I have been told no by several companies when they found out I live in abroad and make "SF money", because it wouldn't be fair to their existing remote staff despite having the budget if I lived in SF.
- sidlls 9y ago
  If they have the budget, then it's not "wouldn't be fair" so much as it is "is currently not fair." On the other hand these developers don't demand more so maybe it is fair. Developers abroad selling themselves short on compensation might be fair, but it does make it hard for people who do earn "SF money" to relocate and keep their high salaries. It doesn't seem irrational to complain about that situation.
- cannonedhamster 9y ago
  That kind of policy is stupid. Is it fair to pay people for more experience in coding if the younger person has more experience in that literal language? Life isn't about being fair it's about making sure everyone has the same opportunity to succeed. If they aren't willing or able to negotiate that is on them. I negotiated/job hopped my way from below 30k to six figures within 5 years. What your compensation is shouldn't matter to what someone else is being comped. What about all the snacks, parties, etc you're not invited to? Do they factor that in?

by dozzie 9y ago

Will_Parker 9y ago

It would be irrational to pay more for water from France vs water from the tap, if they're the exact same product.

dozzie 9y ago
...unless you can't get water from tap and the only thing that seems to fit your criteria at this moment is the water from France, and thus you need to convince the water from France to get to you instead of some local buyer.

pound 9y ago

or you may think of it as pricing the value you provide at how expensive that value around the place companies are in

dozzie 9y ago
It's silly to expect a company to voluntarily pay more when it knows it can pay less for the same service.

jpitz 9y ago

It certainly places a bizarre incentive on getting a PO box in SF/NYC/DC, where doing so would not make me anymore productive or valuable.

sidlls 9y ago

Do you suppose there are differences between "glass of water" and "human being with skill between marginally and significantly better than average"? But I agree with you if you are pointing out that it's terrible that developers who aren't in the valley (or similar regions) don't demand higher wages, allowing employers to get away with paying based on location instead of value.

itake 9y ago
same. I totally understand if a company just doesn't have the budget for an SF engineer, then they shouldn't hire from there. But if they do have the budget and they still want to price you to your city, then boo on them.

itake 9y ago

Remote companies frame the comp problem as: we want to be fair to our employees such that our dev in SF doesn't feel "poor" compared to our devs in middle America. My opinion is living in an expensive city is a life choice. Just like choosing to purchase a BMW or a new home. You should not be paid more because you own a BMW and your co-worker drives a 10 yr old Toyota. I have been told no by several companies when they found out I live in abroad and make "SF money", because it wouldn't be fair to their existing remote staff despite having the budget if I lived in SF.

sidlls 9y ago
If they have the budget, then it's not "wouldn't be fair" so much as it is "is currently not fair." On the other hand these developers don't demand more so maybe it is fair. Developers abroad selling themselves short on compensation might be fair, but it does make it hard for people who do earn "SF money" to relocate and keep their high salaries. It doesn't seem irrational to complain about that situation.
cannonedhamster 9y ago
That kind of policy is stupid. Is it fair to pay people for more experience in coding if the younger person has more experience in that literal language? Life isn't about being fair it's about making sure everyone has the same opportunity to succeed. If they aren't willing or able to negotiate that is on them. I negotiated/job hopped my way from below 30k to six figures within 5 years. What your compensation is shouldn't matter to what someone else is being comped. What about all the snacks, parties, etc you're not invited to? Do they factor that in?