8 ms·
I don’t know what x, y, and z you have in mind, but it seems that companies have pretty much standardized on cost of living adjustments to pay for remote worker
by cactus2093 6y ago
I don’t know what x, y, and z you have in mind, but it seems that companies have pretty much standardized on cost of living adjustments to pay for remote workers. So maybe you can try to cherry-pick some numbers that help your case, but the data probably works against what you’re arguing for here. It feels like the ship has sailed, as long as enough other people are willing to accept location based pay then it will be the norm.
Also, I guess YMMV but I haven’t found this approach to be very effective. Lots of companies will openly admit they just can’t compete with FAANG salaries for instance. The recruiter wants to sign you for the sake of their commission, but they lose people all the time and aren’t going to lose sleep over you walking away. Even if you really are 1 in a million, the recruiter is not incentivized to avoid missing out on those people at all costs. They’re incentivized to bring in a steady stream of pretty good people, and you’re still just one person.
I’m not saying there is no use in negotiating, but you’re basically hyping it up as if there is some magic incantation that will let you convince anyone to pay you whatever you want. I think that does a disservice to anyone looking for salary advice. In my experience, if you can get a 5-20% increase from their first offer that’s about all you can expect. You’re better off applying for higher paying companies from the beginning, and learning skills/playing the politics to get promoted to higher levels (e.g. senior, staff, principal engineer) where the comp you want is in band, rather than trying to turn a mediocre offer into an amazing one due to sheer force of negotiation.
- ghaff 6y ago>Lots of companies will openly admit they just can’t compete with FAANG salaries for instance. Yeah. Anecdotally, many tech companies don't have big location-based pay differences across the US. But they mostly do that by not having offices or at least major offices in places like SV and NYC--and basically don't really try to salary match the big tech companies. I have a feeling that if you looked at most tech employers you'd see a lot more outflow to FAANG than the other way around.
- motohagiography 6y agoTry to get %20 from the stock market. If your tech role typically earns ~$100k/year, that conversation is a $20,000 phone call. The difference between their first offer and 15 minutes on the phone with the right attitude and tools is what a lot of people make in a year. On an hourly 1-year contract rate haggle, upping $10/hr is $20,000 in the contract value. I'd call that a valuable phone call and probably the best return on $15.95 anyone ever spent, especially because it was probably just for some cheesy ebook on negotiation. Is that hype? I may have to write that cheesy ebook. :)
- andai 6y agoCan you recommend any books on negotiation? I checked your profile but I couldn't find what you were referring to earlier.
- JoshTriplett 6y agohttps://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/
- flyinglizard 6y ago“Never Split The Difference”
- cactus2093 6y agoFor sure, everyone should try to get more on their offer, it can be significant. I'm still not convinced there are many secrets an ebook can unlock, vs just asking for it and trying, as always, to be both confident and likable. But I suspect it's equally possible whether you're in a low or high CoL area, I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise. It's unrelated to the issue of whether the company will pay you more in certain locations than others.