4 ms·

This is such an odd survey, especially when framed as "White people especially need to talk about their salaries because marginalized folks in the same fields o

This is such an odd survey, especially when framed as "White people especially need to talk about their salaries because marginalized folks in the same fields often have no idea they're being swindled by employers." How knowledge of me making $X helps anyone? If you think that you're underpaid, the only thing that will make difference is a competing offer. Reducing experience, amount of work, kind of work and value to the organization, to just 2 variables - race and number - won't make any difference. Instead: 1. Know your local job market. 2. Make sure you're working on right things. 3. Be a team player. 4. Make your bosses happy (usually that goes hand-in-hand with working on right things and being a team player). I made good last year, but it's because I happened to be at the right time in the right place, and put a lot of hours of work. Would putting a number and my race on that give you any insight into that?

stuxnet79 8y ago
> Would putting a number and my race on that give you any insight into that? I believe your analysis is unfairly reductionist and doesn't really capture the spirit of the tweet. If I was asking you for advice about salary, I'd definitely be interested in everything you mentioned, what your skills are, how you got to your current position etc. The issue is that marginalized groups often find it hard to advocate for themselves because of issues of perception and also they lack the knowledge required to properly negotiate. It's hard to know what numbers to throw out when you don't even have a range or you don't know what the social protocols / customs are regarding negotiation. The point of sharing isn't to trivialize your hard work but it's to help people who are just as qualified and talented as you not fall through the cracks.
- jimbobimbo 8y ago
  Software development is a huge professional field, with people doing all sorts of things, in all kinds of companies. A bunch of numbers pulled off of the international forum (HN) with such variability in job descriptions and levels, is just that - a bunch of numbers. I want to be helpful, but simply throwing the number around is not it.
  - jimbobimbo 8y ago
    FWIW, the most useful link from the original discussion on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KeirstenBrager/status/1094366262602420226 https://twitter.com/KeirstenBrager/status/109436626260242022...
quickthrower2 8y ago
> Know your local job market. Knowing the international job market is very helpful. I would not know it without a post like this (or HN in general). I could 5x my salary by moving to the US and stay in a tech role. To do a 5x here i'd need to become a board member of a large company.

stuxnet79 8y ago

> Would putting a number and my race on that give you any insight into that? I believe your analysis is unfairly reductionist and doesn't really capture the spirit of the tweet. If I was asking you for advice about salary, I'd definitely be interested in everything you mentioned, what your skills are, how you got to your current position etc. The issue is that marginalized groups often find it hard to advocate for themselves because of issues of perception and also they lack the knowledge required to properly negotiate. It's hard to know what numbers to throw out when you don't even have a range or you don't know what the social protocols / customs are regarding negotiation. The point of sharing isn't to trivialize your hard work but it's to help people who are just as qualified and talented as you not fall through the cracks.

jimbobimbo 8y ago
Software development is a huge professional field, with people doing all sorts of things, in all kinds of companies. A bunch of numbers pulled off of the international forum (HN) with such variability in job descriptions and levels, is just that - a bunch of numbers. I want to be helpful, but simply throwing the number around is not it.
- jimbobimbo 8y ago
  FWIW, the most useful link from the original discussion on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KeirstenBrager/status/1094366262602420226 https://twitter.com/KeirstenBrager/status/109436626260242022...

quickthrower2 8y ago

> Know your local job market. Knowing the international job market is very helpful. I would not know it without a post like this (or HN in general). I could 5x my salary by moving to the US and stay in a tech role. To do a 5x here i'd need to become a board member of a large company.