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Push back on this. You deliver the same value from SF or Denver. They have the budget. They can (and will) pay you.

by aantix 6y ago

bhupy 6y ago
That works...right up until someone else in Denver is willing to do the same work for less. The salary needed to afford the median home in San Francisco is about $183,000. In Denver, the salary needed to afford the median home is about $87,000 [1]. What happens when another Denver software engineer is willing to accept what they would have accepted working for a firm in Denver, because it affords them a satisfactory standard of living? [1] https://www.hsh.com/finance/mortgage/salary-home-buying-25-cities.html https://www.hsh.com/finance/mortgage/salary-home-buying-25-c...
- aantix 6y ago
  And that's true to a certain extent. Especially if you're building commodity software. Or better stated, you're a commodity programmer. But if you're a talented engineer, you've been on a few large scale projects, can discuss architecture - scaling, algorithms, have a public portfolio, you're in a different group. The hiring company - their resources are finite. Time from other engineers to screen engineers. The may have infinite applications, but their time isn't infinite. And if they're going to filter you out because of comp requirements, they will do so in the beginning. The really senior devs take a long time to screen - so if you've gotten past the high salary filter and have gotten past the really hard technical screens, you now have the upper hand. It costs a company a ton of time (and money) to let a senior dev with an offer slip away. More succinctly - if you're a talented engineer, there are companies that will pay a premium for your services. Yes, even SF prices. Hold your ground on the salary. Take as many job calls as possible, tell them your number. You're filtering them as much as they're filtering you. It's the only way to test if it's too high. Look at levels.fyi, paysa, glassdoor, try to get a handle on baselines and the outlier deals. Filter out those companies that are trying to hire on the cheap. And then kill it in the interviews with the companies that remain.

Push back on this. You deliver the same value from SF or Denver. They have the budget. They can (and will) pay you.

by aantix 6y ago

Push back on this. You deliver the same value from SF or Denver. They have the budget. They can (and will) pay you.

That works...right up until someone else in Denver is willing to do the same work for less. The salary needed to afford the median home in San Francisco is about $183,000. In Denver, the salary needed to afford the median home is about $87,000 [1]. What happens when another Denver software engineer is willing to accept what they would have accepted working for a firm in Denver, because it affords them a satisfactory standard of living? [1] https://www.hsh.com/finance/mortgage/salary-home-buying-25-cities.html https://www.hsh.com/finance/mortgage/salary-home-buying-25-c...

aantix 6y ago
And that's true to a certain extent. Especially if you're building commodity software. Or better stated, you're a commodity programmer. But if you're a talented engineer, you've been on a few large scale projects, can discuss architecture - scaling, algorithms, have a public portfolio, you're in a different group. The hiring company - their resources are finite. Time from other engineers to screen engineers. The may have infinite applications, but their time isn't infinite. And if they're going to filter you out because of comp requirements, they will do so in the beginning. The really senior devs take a long time to screen - so if you've gotten past the high salary filter and have gotten past the really hard technical screens, you now have the upper hand. It costs a company a ton of time (and money) to let a senior dev with an offer slip away. More succinctly - if you're a talented engineer, there are companies that will pay a premium for your services. Yes, even SF prices. Hold your ground on the salary. Take as many job calls as possible, tell them your number. You're filtering them as much as they're filtering you. It's the only way to test if it's too high. Look at levels.fyi, paysa, glassdoor, try to get a handle on baselines and the outlier deals. Filter out those companies that are trying to hire on the cheap. And then kill it in the interviews with the companies that remain.