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I wonder if this sort of research is more focused on appealing to companies rather than employees, as I often see averages which are much lower than what can be

by daemin 4y ago

I wonder if this sort of research is more focused on appealing to companies rather than employees, as I often see averages which are much lower than what can be considered the current market rate. Therefore research like this gives companies numbers which they can use to justify lower salaries to new employees and lower raises to existing employees, especially if a company wants to pay the median salary, or at the 75% mark. I always hear stories about people being paid significantly more than these sorts of surveys suggest.

BlargMcLarg 4y ago
Odds are you're living in a bubble, or the people who talk about money tend to be the ones earning more. Average wages really are that low, median wages even more so. Most developers do not talk or negotiate. One colleague I knew, by far one of the best in the company given his YoE, basically accepted his contract under the assumption of 'yeah I assume everyone just takes that, so I did as well'. This was a guy who was otherwise incredibly critical and vocal about anything. In that same company, they did 'research' average salaries (they just asked some other company with data), bluntly said in a meeting with developers 'so we know your salaries are lower than market rate, but we're not going to increase them immediately'. The only rational behavior I took from all this is the ability of established employers to just wave their hands at most of it and still be able to give everything at or above upper management fat wages / profits, given the 'peasants' will just accept things.
- daemin 4y ago
  Maybe a bit of an expat bubble? But where I am some new big players have come in and are paying significantly more (50-100%) than the approximate market rate for very experienced people. The absolute numbers (when converted to appropriate currencies) are comparable to what people can get in native English speaking countries. Some companies do try and adjust for cost of living differences, meaning they offer less here versus some other more expensive locations, but that opens up another can of worms.

by daemin 4y ago

BlargMcLarg 4y ago

Odds are you're living in a bubble, or the people who talk about money tend to be the ones earning more. Average wages really are that low, median wages even more so. Most developers do not talk or negotiate. One colleague I knew, by far one of the best in the company given his YoE, basically accepted his contract under the assumption of 'yeah I assume everyone just takes that, so I did as well'. This was a guy who was otherwise incredibly critical and vocal about anything. In that same company, they did 'research' average salaries (they just asked some other company with data), bluntly said in a meeting with developers 'so we know your salaries are lower than market rate, but we're not going to increase them immediately'. The only rational behavior I took from all this is the ability of established employers to just wave their hands at most of it and still be able to give everything at or above upper management fat wages / profits, given the 'peasants' will just accept things.

daemin 4y ago
Maybe a bit of an expat bubble? But where I am some new big players have come in and are paying significantly more (50-100%) than the approximate market rate for very experienced people. The absolute numbers (when converted to appropriate currencies) are comparable to what people can get in native English speaking countries. Some companies do try and adjust for cost of living differences, meaning they offer less here versus some other more expensive locations, but that opens up another can of worms.