3 ms·

I just want to re-iterate what everyone is saying and also state that I am a very good developer that removed myself from Gitlabs recruitment pipeline as soon a

I just want to re-iterate what everyone is saying and also state that I am a very good developer that removed myself from Gitlabs recruitment pipeline as soon as I found out I would be getting paid 89,000$ based on your algorithm because I live in a very low cost of living area. Despite the fact that I was currently making 140,000$ at a non-remote position in my low cost of living area. I was genuinely shocked/surprised when I found that, and confused that a company with a good reputation for software could have such a massive disconnect on wages.

sytse 8y ago
Thanks for voicing the disparity. We want to pay at or above market so this big of a difference is concerning to me. As we state on every page that has our calculator, we would love to hear from people when we’re far off. Can you maybe share what position you where considering and in what metro are you life?
- Implicated 8y ago
  > we would love to hear from people when we’re far off ... Oregon... entire state is same modifier? I can rent a 4 bedroom house 2 blocks away from the university in La Grande for $1200/m. I can rent a 3 bedroom house 2 blocks away from the university in Portland for $3900/m. Does not compute.
  - sytse 8y ago
    I agree Portland should probably have its own index.
    - brittany6229 8y ago
      We are working on our 2019 iteration of the compensation calculator currently, which will create additional metro areas, one of which will be for Portland.
      - clubm8 8y ago
        >We are working on our 2019 iteration of the compensation calculator currently, which will create additional metro areas, one of which will be for Portland. It doesn't speak well that you need to be told which metro areas to add. The US government had to address a similar issue and came up with a handy list of metro areas: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2018/general-schedule/ https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries... I find it a little odd that you would be so adamant about your compensation algorithm and not do basic due diligence exploring what others in the space have done in the space. HN commenters shouldn't need to tell you what metro areas are missing - you should have proactively identified them.
- joshwcomeau 8y ago
  I haven't applied to Gitlab, but I work remotely for a Bay Area company, and I earn more than my local market rate. My local market (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) _severely_ underpays. It's common for people with 5+ years' experience to be making under 60k CAD (50k USD), if not way less. Because of that, many of the city's best devs either work remotely, or they move to Toronto, or New York, or the Bay Area. When you base your salary calculations on local market rates, in very-low-market-rate areas, you're looking at an artificially lowered pool. I'm not surprised people balk when they find out how low you pay, because in their mind they aren't competing with local onsite developers. That isn't their market. Also, there are many benefits to working onsite that don't appear to be factored into your calculations. Not all remote workers can work comfortably out of the home, and so there are office rental costs. Many onsite jobs provide things like free lunches, as well. It's possible these things are factored in; if so, it might be worth mentioning them here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/benefits/ https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/benefits/ EDIT: Removed a complaint about #3, as I saw from another comment that I misunderstood it. I still disagree with the premise - if I was unhappy at my current job, there are plenty of other remote companies that pay well, and even if there weren't, I'd gladly take a pay cut to do more fulfilling work - but it doesn't strike me as condescending anymore. Just ill-informed.
- stefanmichael 8y ago
  This was for a position generically titled "Software Engineer" if I remember correctly. I am in the Houston metro area. I have just re-run the calculation today and gotten the response of 103-108k or 98-103k depending on my opinion of myself but this was about a year ago. I also believe the calculator may have changed since then as I remember putting in a number of "years of experience" which has since been removed. The disparity is slightly decreased since I last run it but still a bit out of touch from "at or above market" in this case.

sytse 8y ago

Thanks for voicing the disparity. We want to pay at or above market so this big of a difference is concerning to me. As we state on every page that has our calculator, we would love to hear from people when we’re far off. Can you maybe share what position you where considering and in what metro are you life?

Implicated 8y ago
> we would love to hear from people when we’re far off ... Oregon... entire state is same modifier? I can rent a 4 bedroom house 2 blocks away from the university in La Grande for $1200/m. I can rent a 3 bedroom house 2 blocks away from the university in Portland for $3900/m. Does not compute.
- sytse 8y ago
  I agree Portland should probably have its own index.
  - brittany6229 8y ago
    We are working on our 2019 iteration of the compensation calculator currently, which will create additional metro areas, one of which will be for Portland.
    - clubm8 8y ago
      >We are working on our 2019 iteration of the compensation calculator currently, which will create additional metro areas, one of which will be for Portland. It doesn't speak well that you need to be told which metro areas to add. The US government had to address a similar issue and came up with a handy list of metro areas: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2018/general-schedule/ https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries... I find it a little odd that you would be so adamant about your compensation algorithm and not do basic due diligence exploring what others in the space have done in the space. HN commenters shouldn't need to tell you what metro areas are missing - you should have proactively identified them.
joshwcomeau 8y ago
I haven't applied to Gitlab, but I work remotely for a Bay Area company, and I earn more than my local market rate. My local market (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) _severely_ underpays. It's common for people with 5+ years' experience to be making under 60k CAD (50k USD), if not way less. Because of that, many of the city's best devs either work remotely, or they move to Toronto, or New York, or the Bay Area. When you base your salary calculations on local market rates, in very-low-market-rate areas, you're looking at an artificially lowered pool. I'm not surprised people balk when they find out how low you pay, because in their mind they aren't competing with local onsite developers. That isn't their market. Also, there are many benefits to working onsite that don't appear to be factored into your calculations. Not all remote workers can work comfortably out of the home, and so there are office rental costs. Many onsite jobs provide things like free lunches, as well. It's possible these things are factored in; if so, it might be worth mentioning them here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/benefits/ https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/benefits/ EDIT: Removed a complaint about #3, as I saw from another comment that I misunderstood it. I still disagree with the premise - if I was unhappy at my current job, there are plenty of other remote companies that pay well, and even if there weren't, I'd gladly take a pay cut to do more fulfilling work - but it doesn't strike me as condescending anymore. Just ill-informed.
stefanmichael 8y ago
This was for a position generically titled "Software Engineer" if I remember correctly. I am in the Houston metro area. I have just re-run the calculation today and gotten the response of 103-108k or 98-103k depending on my opinion of myself but this was about a year ago. I also believe the calculator may have changed since then as I remember putting in a number of "years of experience" which has since been removed. The disparity is slightly decreased since I last run it but still a bit out of touch from "at or above market" in this case.