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I have a conspiracy theory that a lot of these comically low offers are completely fake to push down average compensation for roles. No one is obviously taking

I have a conspiracy theory that a lot of these comically low offers are completely fake to push down average compensation for roles. No one is obviously taking these jobs and many of them seem to be fairly non-sensical in their description and requirements. But these salary asks get calculated into averages when Dice/Zip Recruiter/Whoever put together their recommended compensation suggestions.

jschwartzi 7y ago
I just think there are a lot of people out there who have no idea how much money we make for a typical job, and therefore don't know what's reasonable. They may have worked hourly jobs in the past and have calibrated their hourly rates to those going rates rather than doing any kind of market research. $20/hr would be pretty good for a journeyman carpenter in some areas I've lived.
TrackerFF 7y ago
They get tons of desperate devs. Lots of people fresh off boot-camps, or fresh college grads with no experience. Then they hit them with low-ball offers, and work them for a year or two - until the devs learn their worth, and switch jobs for triple salary. And the cycle starts over.
- CM30 7y ago
  Yeah, it's pretty much this, except also with a sort of class element to it. A lot of people from poorer backgrounds flat out don't know their worth, or how much money they should be making according to market rates. They're so used to friends and family having low earning jobs that they think that's the baseline, even in fields where you can earn three/four times that by shopping around, negotiating and knowing who to work for. It's also probably why many immigrants work for low wages; because they're too used to the amount of money they would have made in their home country to realise that even double/triple that may be significantly less than market rate in their new location.
  - Viliam1234 7y ago
    This. When you come from a poor background, your parents and friends are like "I have no idea how much these jobs pay", your colleagues are like "we are forbidden to talk to each other about our salaries", and your potential employers are like "no I won't tell you how much we offer, you tell me your expectations first". And if you ask for a fraction of what anyone else with the same qualifications would ask for, they just smile and give it to you, keeping you in the dark. I spent my first few years working for peanuts. The wake-up moment came when I decided to quit, because I believed I was too incompetent for my job (I had a heavy case of impostor syndrome back then), and my boss misunderstood my words, and instead doubled my salary. Then I started to suspect that if there was already enough space to double my salary, perhaps there is more. Turned out that yes, there was a lot of space to grow. Soon I was making about 10 times my original salary... in a different company. (Today you could probably find that information online; if not precisely, then at least within an order of magnitude. But this happened decades ago.)
RickJWagner 7y ago
I sometimes cook up a few conspiracy theories myself, but this one never occurred to me. Kudos. That's a good one.
oceanghost 7y ago
I've seen this happen in real life. When I had just graduated, a friend of mine got an interview at a company and gave them my name as well. They offered me 120k and him 45k. We were both new grads from the same program, and he had more work experience than I did. But he was employed, making 40k/yr. So I took the job, he didn't. Years later he got me ANOTHER interview at his company, they offered me 60k, knowing I was literally making twice that. It was really clear that they wanted to make me an offer that I wouldn't take.

jschwartzi 7y ago

I just think there are a lot of people out there who have no idea how much money we make for a typical job, and therefore don't know what's reasonable. They may have worked hourly jobs in the past and have calibrated their hourly rates to those going rates rather than doing any kind of market research. $20/hr would be pretty good for a journeyman carpenter in some areas I've lived.

TrackerFF 7y ago

They get tons of desperate devs. Lots of people fresh off boot-camps, or fresh college grads with no experience. Then they hit them with low-ball offers, and work them for a year or two - until the devs learn their worth, and switch jobs for triple salary. And the cycle starts over.

CM30 7y ago
Yeah, it's pretty much this, except also with a sort of class element to it. A lot of people from poorer backgrounds flat out don't know their worth, or how much money they should be making according to market rates. They're so used to friends and family having low earning jobs that they think that's the baseline, even in fields where you can earn three/four times that by shopping around, negotiating and knowing who to work for. It's also probably why many immigrants work for low wages; because they're too used to the amount of money they would have made in their home country to realise that even double/triple that may be significantly less than market rate in their new location.
- Viliam1234 7y ago
  This. When you come from a poor background, your parents and friends are like "I have no idea how much these jobs pay", your colleagues are like "we are forbidden to talk to each other about our salaries", and your potential employers are like "no I won't tell you how much we offer, you tell me your expectations first". And if you ask for a fraction of what anyone else with the same qualifications would ask for, they just smile and give it to you, keeping you in the dark. I spent my first few years working for peanuts. The wake-up moment came when I decided to quit, because I believed I was too incompetent for my job (I had a heavy case of impostor syndrome back then), and my boss misunderstood my words, and instead doubled my salary. Then I started to suspect that if there was already enough space to double my salary, perhaps there is more. Turned out that yes, there was a lot of space to grow. Soon I was making about 10 times my original salary... in a different company. (Today you could probably find that information online; if not precisely, then at least within an order of magnitude. But this happened decades ago.)

RickJWagner 7y ago

I sometimes cook up a few conspiracy theories myself, but this one never occurred to me. Kudos. That's a good one.

oceanghost 7y ago

I've seen this happen in real life. When I had just graduated, a friend of mine got an interview at a company and gave them my name as well. They offered me 120k and him 45k. We were both new grads from the same program, and he had more work experience than I did. But he was employed, making 40k/yr. So I took the job, he didn't. Years later he got me ANOTHER interview at his company, they offered me 60k, knowing I was literally making twice that. It was really clear that they wanted to make me an offer that I wouldn't take.