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What rate do you think is off? For example our rate for an intermediate developer in San Francisco is $160k a year and options. See https://about.gitlab.com/job

by sytse 7y ago

What rate do you think is off? For example our rate for an intermediate developer in San Francisco is $160k a year and options. See https://about.gitlab.com/job-families/engineering/backend-engineer/ https://about.gitlab.com/job-families/engineering/backend-en... If you mean we pay local rates please see https://about.gitlab.com/2019/02/28/why-we-pay-local-rates/ https://about.gitlab.com/2019/02/28/why-we-pay-local-rates/

ergocoder 7y ago
As a person from a third world country, I don't think paying local rates makes sense for an employee. I worked in both Vietnam and Bay Area. The salary difference is ~10x. In Bay Area, I easily save $100K or more per year (earning >~$300K a year). Even earning a top local rates in Vietnam would have a hard time accumulating $100K in savings. I could go back to Vietnam now and earn like $5K USD a month top. Living in a country with lower cost of living often means lower quality of school, safety, health, and etc. If I work remotely for gitlab, I'd immediately move to Bay Area or maybe Seattle to increase my savings. But, well, it saves gitlab money. So, it makes sense for Gitlab to make this decision. It's not good for employees though.
- planetburgess 7y ago
  Is working for Gitlab remotely in Vietnam on a localised salary as good or better than most local job opportunities? If so, isn't it still good for the employees?
  - ergocoder 7y ago
    > Is working for Gitlab remotely in Vietnam on a localised salary as good or better than most local job opportunities? I think Gitlab aims to pay top rates on the local market if I'm not wrong. What I'm saying is that, even with the top rate in Vietnam, it's still small compared to being an average engineer in Bay Area in terms of saving performance.
- 1123581321 7y ago
  Your situation sounds different than that of GitLab employees. GitLab would pay you $190-200k in SF and $90-100k in Vietnam.
autotune 7y ago
I'd highly recommend doing an internal, anonymous, survey to see if employees are happy with their compensation. Literally every GitLab employee I've talked to is extremely unsatisfied and tends to agree with the sentiment about being underpaid relative to other companies for those not in SF, and a very common theme I've heard is being heavily low balled when reaching the offer stage. Somewhat anecdotal but still more so than other software companies willing to pay market rates, also worth noting I am not a GitLab employee just a very common theme when chatting with them. Something is obviously wrong with your "compensation calculator" if the general sentiment is this widespread.
- YorickPeterse 7y ago
  Salaries at GitLab were increased (at least for engineers) towards the end of 2018. This meant that at least my salary went from so-so to something I am actually really happy about (this was combined with some other adjustments, such as my experience level), and something that is hard to beat here in The Netherlands. In other words, the opinion will vary from person to person.
- emilycook 7y ago
  GitLab employee here, who have you been talking to? Because that has 100% not been my experience working here. I live in a pretty middle-tier area, and I was offered a salary that was pretty much on-par with I was making at the company I worked for locally. My draw to GitLab wasn't the idea that I'd be making a SF level salary, it was (primarily, for me) the ability to work remotely. I couldn't really care less that I'm getting paid less than my colleagues in SF, because the ability to get paid the same amount that I would at a local company while working remotely was already worth it.

by sytse 7y ago

ergocoder 7y ago

As a person from a third world country, I don't think paying local rates makes sense for an employee. I worked in both Vietnam and Bay Area. The salary difference is ~10x. In Bay Area, I easily save $100K or more per year (earning >~$300K a year). Even earning a top local rates in Vietnam would have a hard time accumulating $100K in savings. I could go back to Vietnam now and earn like $5K USD a month top. Living in a country with lower cost of living often means lower quality of school, safety, health, and etc. If I work remotely for gitlab, I'd immediately move to Bay Area or maybe Seattle to increase my savings. But, well, it saves gitlab money. So, it makes sense for Gitlab to make this decision. It's not good for employees though.

planetburgess 7y ago
Is working for Gitlab remotely in Vietnam on a localised salary as good or better than most local job opportunities? If so, isn't it still good for the employees?
- ergocoder 7y ago
  > Is working for Gitlab remotely in Vietnam on a localised salary as good or better than most local job opportunities? I think Gitlab aims to pay top rates on the local market if I'm not wrong. What I'm saying is that, even with the top rate in Vietnam, it's still small compared to being an average engineer in Bay Area in terms of saving performance.
1123581321 7y ago
Your situation sounds different than that of GitLab employees. GitLab would pay you $190-200k in SF and $90-100k in Vietnam.

autotune 7y ago

I'd highly recommend doing an internal, anonymous, survey to see if employees are happy with their compensation. Literally every GitLab employee I've talked to is extremely unsatisfied and tends to agree with the sentiment about being underpaid relative to other companies for those not in SF, and a very common theme I've heard is being heavily low balled when reaching the offer stage. Somewhat anecdotal but still more so than other software companies willing to pay market rates, also worth noting I am not a GitLab employee just a very common theme when chatting with them. Something is obviously wrong with your "compensation calculator" if the general sentiment is this widespread.

YorickPeterse 7y ago
Salaries at GitLab were increased (at least for engineers) towards the end of 2018. This meant that at least my salary went from so-so to something I am actually really happy about (this was combined with some other adjustments, such as my experience level), and something that is hard to beat here in The Netherlands. In other words, the opinion will vary from person to person.
emilycook 7y ago
GitLab employee here, who have you been talking to? Because that has 100% not been my experience working here. I live in a pretty middle-tier area, and I was offered a salary that was pretty much on-par with I was making at the company I worked for locally. My draw to GitLab wasn't the idea that I'd be making a SF level salary, it was (primarily, for me) the ability to work remotely. I couldn't really care less that I'm getting paid less than my colleagues in SF, because the ability to get paid the same amount that I would at a local company while working remotely was already worth it.