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Companies generally use third party compensation benchmark tools like Radford, which are total garbage. They base comp off title, and these tools are stuck in t

Companies generally use third party compensation benchmark tools like Radford, which are total garbage. They base comp off title, and these tools are stuck in the stone age (think 'programmer analyst' as a SWE). When recruiting and/or engineering decide to post a job, they need to consult HR, who don't know anything about tech hiring, so they'll just guess. This will result in a broad, inaccurate, or crappy range. This seems like a decent law for retail and lower skilled jobs, but I think it just creates confusion for tech/startups. Engineers/tech employees talk, and its evident in online forums, slack/discord groups, linkedin, etc. When I see people say they won't apply to a job w/o the band or will pass on the job if its low, I'd suggest you do your own research. See who the company employs. If they are hiring talent from companies known to pay big $$, the posted band is just a bureaucratic formality because nobody knows how to properly navigate it. Also, talk to recruiters - they know what people are getting paid.

sokoloff 3y ago
No one in 2020: “I won’t apply to AWS because of the global salary cap of only $160K (or whatever the figure was back then).” When (substantially) all of your comp is cash salary, posting cash salary ranges is illuminating. When a lot of it isn’t, posting a cash salary range just tells prospective applicants one tiny view into a cash flow aspect.
altdataseller 3y ago
Where does Radford get their salaries from? Is it crowdsourced like Glassdoor, or do they survey employers or employees?
- Eumenes 3y ago
  They survey employers, and according to their website: 20+ million employees at 6,700+ companies
  - altdataseller 3y ago
    Why isn't this reliable then, other than the job titles mess?
    - Eumenes 3y ago
      Its probably reliable if you're a Fortune 500 company hiring enterprise J2EE and C# developers because that's most of their customers, but not if you're a more engineering/product driven company. I guess the appeal of Levels.fyi - more tech focused.

sokoloff 3y ago

No one in 2020: “I won’t apply to AWS because of the global salary cap of only $160K (or whatever the figure was back then).” When (substantially) all of your comp is cash salary, posting cash salary ranges is illuminating. When a lot of it isn’t, posting a cash salary range just tells prospective applicants one tiny view into a cash flow aspect.

altdataseller 3y ago

Where does Radford get their salaries from? Is it crowdsourced like Glassdoor, or do they survey employers or employees?

Eumenes 3y ago
They survey employers, and according to their website: 20+ million employees at 6,700+ companies
- altdataseller 3y ago
  Why isn't this reliable then, other than the job titles mess?
  - Eumenes 3y ago
    Its probably reliable if you're a Fortune 500 company hiring enterprise J2EE and C# developers because that's most of their customers, but not if you're a more engineering/product driven company. I guess the appeal of Levels.fyi - more tech focused.