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You don't seem to be too bothered by this. I've had wild swings in pay myself, worked places big and small. Maybe saying this to others in the thread: there's m

You don't seem to be too bothered by this. I've had wild swings in pay myself, worked places big and small. Maybe saying this to others in the thread: there's more to life than how much money you make. I agree SF is getting way too expensive, it seems you either work FAANG or get out. At least, that's how it feels, and I think the city is worse for it, with every passing day. I think it's also important to think about where you were working. See my other comments in this discussion; I don't think it's accurate to say "underpaid", "underused" maybe, but not "underpaid".

kstenerud 7y ago
Actually it does bother me, because it means that employers have been lying to me when they said that this is normal. And if they lie about that, it means that they are deceptive and untrustworthy. I'm autistic, so this is an area I have trouble in.
- Tade0 7y ago
  The incentive is huge to not tell you the whole truth, like "this salary is normal but for this company". To give an example: I spent almost two years making a hilarious $13k annually in Poland(where I'm from) while my employer was charging our US customers standard rates, so multiples of that. When I switched jobs in 2015, my salary went up 2.5x. This whole time I was making 40% of the market rate and nobody bothered to tell me.
  - sethammons 7y ago
    > this salary is normal but for this company My HR guy was open about it. Our company and others were in a data sharing collective. You pick a title, a region, and experience level and it shows stats on thousands of other companies. By the time you drill down, maybe a dozen companies match. He showed me that for a senior software developer in Orange County at the time (around 5 years ago?), the data showed that I was being paid above median at $120k/yr (pretty sure that was my rate at the time). The problem? I had an offer on hand for $150k. The HR guy was locked with, "yeah, but the data here shows you are already paid above what we should." The CEO helped us meet in the middle. Good choice for me to stay. Base salary is now way higher than what we were talking about then, plus the company went public and I got a start up lotto ticket. Anyway, yes. The company has a limited vision too of what your salary should be, even when they have more data available to them. The only way to see your market rate is to check the market.
- cloverich 7y ago
  All of the employee's I have met who negotiate high salaries do so the same way: They interview regularly (3-4 times a year). They learn what's out there and what they can get. If you start to get offers it becomes natural and easy to both negotiate or leave if you aren't being paid the market rate. I recently started doing this and it was easier than I thought. You don't have to bring all the formalities -- you can simply start emailing people and simply say "Hey, I'm a developer, I'm trying to get a better idea of what's out there. Would you be interested in meeting for coffee so I could learn about your company?" (or something similar).

kstenerud 7y ago

Actually it does bother me, because it means that employers have been lying to me when they said that this is normal. And if they lie about that, it means that they are deceptive and untrustworthy. I'm autistic, so this is an area I have trouble in.

Tade0 7y ago
The incentive is huge to not tell you the whole truth, like "this salary is normal but for this company". To give an example: I spent almost two years making a hilarious $13k annually in Poland(where I'm from) while my employer was charging our US customers standard rates, so multiples of that. When I switched jobs in 2015, my salary went up 2.5x. This whole time I was making 40% of the market rate and nobody bothered to tell me.
- sethammons 7y ago
  > this salary is normal but for this company My HR guy was open about it. Our company and others were in a data sharing collective. You pick a title, a region, and experience level and it shows stats on thousands of other companies. By the time you drill down, maybe a dozen companies match. He showed me that for a senior software developer in Orange County at the time (around 5 years ago?), the data showed that I was being paid above median at $120k/yr (pretty sure that was my rate at the time). The problem? I had an offer on hand for $150k. The HR guy was locked with, "yeah, but the data here shows you are already paid above what we should." The CEO helped us meet in the middle. Good choice for me to stay. Base salary is now way higher than what we were talking about then, plus the company went public and I got a start up lotto ticket. Anyway, yes. The company has a limited vision too of what your salary should be, even when they have more data available to them. The only way to see your market rate is to check the market.
cloverich 7y ago
All of the employee's I have met who negotiate high salaries do so the same way: They interview regularly (3-4 times a year). They learn what's out there and what they can get. If you start to get offers it becomes natural and easy to both negotiate or leave if you aren't being paid the market rate. I recently started doing this and it was easier than I thought. You don't have to bring all the formalities -- you can simply start emailing people and simply say "Hey, I'm a developer, I'm trying to get a better idea of what's out there. Would you be interested in meeting for coffee so I could learn about your company?" (or something similar).