4 ms·

I think I'm underpaid, but not grossly so. I earn $115,000/yr with 8 years of professional experience in Philadelphia. I have equity currently valued at ~$5,000

I think I'm underpaid, but not grossly so. I earn $115,000/yr with 8 years of professional experience in Philadelphia. I have equity currently valued at ~$5,000. I also make an additional ~$10,000/yr in donations to my open source projects and an additional ~$5,000/yr through the occasional side gig. https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/pennsylvania/philadelphia https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/pennsylvania/... I started my career at $30,000 in Colorado Springs. https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/colorado/colorado_springs https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/colorado/colo...

jpmoyn 8y ago
Do you like your company? I'm also in philly but can't seem to find a cool company to work for (I have a software job as is but have been looking). The city feels somewhat dry of interesting software companies.
- Sir_Cmpwn 8y ago
  I do like it, yeah. Shoot me an email: sir@cmpwn.com.
scarface74 8y ago
I know that I’m “underpaid” based on what I could get if I were willing to trade a relatively stress free job to either be a team lead (been there done that) or work for a consulting company. If I made an extra 20K to 30K right now, it wouldn’t change my life significantly. I could reach a few long term goals quicker but I’m really in no rush.
hoaw 8y ago
> I think I'm underpaid, but not grossly so. I wouldn't necessarily call that underpaid. Being underpaid is when you have to choose between the present and the future. If you can both have good and sustainable living conditions, job security and pension with a decent margin you aren't generally underpaid as such. The exception being if your relative wage affects things worth caring about, like being valued by the people around you.
- salburn008 8y ago
  I'd define being underpaid as leaving money on the table. Being comfortable is not related. You can be underpaid and still be comfortable.
  - hoaw 8y ago
    If you aren't comfortable, they are underpaying you for the job they expect you to do. If you are comfortable, but leaving money on the table, you aren't getting all the value you produce. You can call both of those being underpaid, but I would still argue that they are different. Most people need to be comfortable, while most people don't need to capture all the value they can. Staying at a company that pays you less can be perfectly reasonable. The problem is of course that the market doesn't really guarantee being comfortable. A lot of people are being underpaid for being comfortable long term. But as I said leaving money on the table can be a problem in itself. If you do 90% of what produces value, but only get 50% of the value that isn't generally a good thing. The danger of considering leaving money on the table as being underpaid is not seeing the value of things. Many people are saving money for some future event, not realizing what they are giving up, instead of integrating that thing into the present. If you want to work on e.g. open source you don't save hundreds of thousands of dollars for the future. You get enough money that you can do it now. Whether that is having low living costs, extra vacation days, flexibility or room to risk changing jobs to open source companies. Otherwise chances are you just end up with a slightly bigger house.

jpmoyn 8y ago

Do you like your company? I'm also in philly but can't seem to find a cool company to work for (I have a software job as is but have been looking). The city feels somewhat dry of interesting software companies.

Sir_Cmpwn 8y ago
I do like it, yeah. Shoot me an email: sir@cmpwn.com.

scarface74 8y ago

I know that I’m “underpaid” based on what I could get if I were willing to trade a relatively stress free job to either be a team lead (been there done that) or work for a consulting company. If I made an extra 20K to 30K right now, it wouldn’t change my life significantly. I could reach a few long term goals quicker but I’m really in no rush.

hoaw 8y ago

> I think I'm underpaid, but not grossly so. I wouldn't necessarily call that underpaid. Being underpaid is when you have to choose between the present and the future. If you can both have good and sustainable living conditions, job security and pension with a decent margin you aren't generally underpaid as such. The exception being if your relative wage affects things worth caring about, like being valued by the people around you.

salburn008 8y ago
I'd define being underpaid as leaving money on the table. Being comfortable is not related. You can be underpaid and still be comfortable.
- hoaw 8y ago
  If you aren't comfortable, they are underpaying you for the job they expect you to do. If you are comfortable, but leaving money on the table, you aren't getting all the value you produce. You can call both of those being underpaid, but I would still argue that they are different. Most people need to be comfortable, while most people don't need to capture all the value they can. Staying at a company that pays you less can be perfectly reasonable. The problem is of course that the market doesn't really guarantee being comfortable. A lot of people are being underpaid for being comfortable long term. But as I said leaving money on the table can be a problem in itself. If you do 90% of what produces value, but only get 50% of the value that isn't generally a good thing. The danger of considering leaving money on the table as being underpaid is not seeing the value of things. Many people are saving money for some future event, not realizing what they are giving up, instead of integrating that thing into the present. If you want to work on e.g. open source you don't save hundreds of thousands of dollars for the future. You get enough money that you can do it now. Whether that is having low living costs, extra vacation days, flexibility or room to risk changing jobs to open source companies. Otherwise chances are you just end up with a slightly bigger house.