7 ms·

Is there a similar guide for software developers? I'd pay for it

by MattRogish 14y ago

its_so_on 14y ago
I could write that. Is there a guide for pricing this sort of thing? I would pay for it.
- cpeterso 14y ago
  Glassdoor.com is a pretty good guide for tech salaries. The salaries are self-reported, but they are aggregated and anonymous, so there is little incentive for people to exaggerate.
  - dsolomon 14y ago
    Companies use HR to fluff the salaries and paint a prettier picture.
    - dnlbyl 14y ago
      How would fluffing the salaries benefit a company? The result would be new employees expecting matching wages and existing employees feeling they are underpaid relative to their peers.
      - MattRogish 14y ago
        It certainly would benefit recruiting agencies; 20% of a bigger $ goes right to their bottom line. Not that they do that, of course, but I'd be slightly skeptical of any #s that come out of recruiting agencies.
        jarek 14y ago
        In this case, any fluffing recruiting agencies do actually works in favour of good software developers. You could make a claim that if the salaries weren't pumped by the recruiters, the employers could hire more people, but by all accounts lack of jobs isn't currently a problem for good developers.
      - dsolomon 14y ago
        HR makes the sell that "after a few years the candidate -could- be making that kind of money". The few years never really come, so the employee moves on. Except that the next company makes the same commitment.
        jarek 14y ago
        A candidate who accepts a job offer based on salary they "could" get a couple of years down the road has no one to blame but themselves.
        grumps 14y ago
        Yep fully agree here. Never consider bonuses, future pay etc. Only what will be on the next paycheck.
        its_so_on 14y ago
        By that metric just about every millionaire, and most every founder or cofounder billionaire, is an idiot. (Or was when they invested the time and energy to be where they are today.)
        jarek 14y ago
        I think you misspelled "inherited." /s
aculver 14y ago
There is and you don't have to pay for it. The Creative Group is a division of Robert Half, a staffing/recruiting company which also does technical staff. I found the information (particularly the bit about local variances) very valuable. Any hiring manager can reach out to one of their recruiters/account managers and get a copy of this thing. The downside is you have to interact with a recruiting company. :-) It would be great if someone posted the PDF version of the document like they did this one.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
noodle 14y ago
http://s3.amazonaws.com/DBM/M3/2011/Downloads/RHT_SalaryGuide_2012.pdf http://s3.amazonaws.com/DBM/M3/2011/Downloads/RHT_SalaryGuid...
- dsolomon 14y ago
  That's worse than the OP's link. If any company paid that much there'd be a line at the front door every single day of people wanting to be hired.
  - stephencanon 14y ago
    There definitely are companies that pay that much, and they do have (metaphorical) lines at the front door.
- pnathan 14y ago
  Those numbers are in line with what I've seen from other sources such as glassdoor, the BLS, indeed.com, and various postings on HN. edit: interested parties can find the US Gov's Bureau of Labor Statistics giving salaries for a number of different positions. While they break down job titles in odd ways sometimes, these numbers appear entirely in line with it. Mid-70s is about the average number for starting salary as far as I can tell.
  - dsolomon 14y ago
    And each one of those has been found to fluff salary data.
    - mattraibert 14y ago
      Could you please provide some evidence? A glance at your comment history reveals a pattern: anecdotal examples of wildly low salaries ($40k-$50k), and unsubstantiated claims that every possible source of salary data (aside from your examples) is inaccurate. Just a couple of examples: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3978058 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3978058 >That's worse than the OP's link. >If any company paid that much there'd be a line at the front door every single day of people wanting to be hired. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3953590 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3953590 >You're "facts" are far from that. >The developers we have onsite with the customer (Department of Defense with Top Secret clearances) are paid roughly $40-50K/yr USD. >If there were companies that actually paid the salaries you're quoting there would be a line of people at the front door every morning wanting to get hired. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3959410 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3959410 >Your reference is like citing Ms Cleo - pathetic actually. >If companies actually paid those amounts listed there'd be a line of applicants at the front door every single morning wanted the job. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3344467 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3344467 >If there were developer jobs paying that much, there'd be a line of people at the front door every day wanting to get hired. >Quality people are easy to find, a quality company is not.

Is there a similar guide for software developers? I'd pay for it

its_so_on 14y ago

I could write that. Is there a guide for pricing this sort of thing? I would pay for it.

cpeterso 14y ago
Glassdoor.com is a pretty good guide for tech salaries. The salaries are self-reported, but they are aggregated and anonymous, so there is little incentive for people to exaggerate.
- dsolomon 14y ago
  Companies use HR to fluff the salaries and paint a prettier picture.
  - dnlbyl 14y ago
    How would fluffing the salaries benefit a company? The result would be new employees expecting matching wages and existing employees feeling they are underpaid relative to their peers.
    - MattRogish 14y ago
      It certainly would benefit recruiting agencies; 20% of a bigger $ goes right to their bottom line. Not that they do that, of course, but I'd be slightly skeptical of any #s that come out of recruiting agencies.
      - jarek 14y ago
        In this case, any fluffing recruiting agencies do actually works in favour of good software developers. You could make a claim that if the salaries weren't pumped by the recruiters, the employers could hire more people, but by all accounts lack of jobs isn't currently a problem for good developers.
    - dsolomon 14y ago
      HR makes the sell that "after a few years the candidate -could- be making that kind of money". The few years never really come, so the employee moves on. Except that the next company makes the same commitment.
      - jarek 14y ago
        A candidate who accepts a job offer based on salary they "could" get a couple of years down the road has no one to blame but themselves.
        grumps 14y ago
        Yep fully agree here. Never consider bonuses, future pay etc. Only what will be on the next paycheck.
        its_so_on 14y ago
        By that metric just about every millionaire, and most every founder or cofounder billionaire, is an idiot. (Or was when they invested the time and energy to be where they are today.)
        jarek 14y ago
        I think you misspelled "inherited." /s

aculver 14y ago

There is and you don't have to pay for it. The Creative Group is a division of Robert Half, a staffing/recruiting company which also does technical staff. I found the information (particularly the bit about local variances) very valuable. Any hiring manager can reach out to one of their recruiters/account managers and get a copy of this thing. The downside is you have to interact with a recruiting company. :-) It would be great if someone posted the PDF version of the document like they did this one.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

noodle 14y ago

http://s3.amazonaws.com/DBM/M3/2011/Downloads/RHT_SalaryGuide_2012.pdf http://s3.amazonaws.com/DBM/M3/2011/Downloads/RHT_SalaryGuid...

dsolomon 14y ago
That's worse than the OP's link. If any company paid that much there'd be a line at the front door every single day of people wanting to be hired.
- stephencanon 14y ago
  There definitely are companies that pay that much, and they do have (metaphorical) lines at the front door.
pnathan 14y ago
Those numbers are in line with what I've seen from other sources such as glassdoor, the BLS, indeed.com, and various postings on HN. edit: interested parties can find the US Gov's Bureau of Labor Statistics giving salaries for a number of different positions. While they break down job titles in odd ways sometimes, these numbers appear entirely in line with it. Mid-70s is about the average number for starting salary as far as I can tell.
- dsolomon 14y ago
  And each one of those has been found to fluff salary data.
  - mattraibert 14y ago
    Could you please provide some evidence? A glance at your comment history reveals a pattern: anecdotal examples of wildly low salaries ($40k-$50k), and unsubstantiated claims that every possible source of salary data (aside from your examples) is inaccurate. Just a couple of examples: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3978058 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3978058 >That's worse than the OP's link. >If any company paid that much there'd be a line at the front door every single day of people wanting to be hired. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3953590 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3953590 >You're "facts" are far from that. >The developers we have onsite with the customer (Department of Defense with Top Secret clearances) are paid roughly $40-50K/yr USD. >If there were companies that actually paid the salaries you're quoting there would be a line of people at the front door every morning wanting to get hired. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3959410 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3959410 >Your reference is like citing Ms Cleo - pathetic actually. >If companies actually paid those amounts listed there'd be a line of applicants at the front door every single morning wanted the job. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3344467 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3344467 >If there were developer jobs paying that much, there'd be a line of people at the front door every day wanting to get hired. >Quality people are easy to find, a quality company is not.