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The more important question is: how much is the pay raise from Senior -> Staff. For even the companies that pay generously, like Facebook, the median pay increa

The more important question is: how much is the pay raise from Senior -> Staff. For even the companies that pay generously, like Facebook, the median pay increases by about $150k in the US. If you look at companies like Dell, levels.fyi reports that the increase is barely $15k (https://www.levels.fyi/companies/dell-technologies/salaries/software-engineer?country=254 https://www.levels.fyi/companies/dell-technologies/salaries/...) Now if I were to choose, getting paid 15k less and stay remote in a LCOL area vs get that pay raise to live in a presumably more expensive city to RTO, it’s a no brainer. Even if I live in a HCOL area and I don’t go to the office, it is still a win. I live in the Bay Area, relatively close to the office and just commuting to the office, if I use public transportation, is about $300/month ($3600/year). If I drive, pay for parking, bridge tolls, and pay for lunch, I suddenly start spending $2000/month to RTO ($8 toll, $16 lunch and $25 parking 5 days a week). I’d need almost $40-50k pre tax raise to break even, which most companies refuse to give. And that is on top of time I waste commuting and the added work responsibilities I now have to take on. The incentives to RTO are really not there.

imoreno 2y ago
The problem with the raise is that you often end up getting hired into a role at the high end of the comp range for that level, since during the application you have leverage. When getting promoted, you have less bargaining power - what are you going to do, refuse the raise because it's too small? So you get promoted out of highly paid senior into underpaid staff. If you really want to be staff, you can try interviewing elsewhere for that position, and negotiate to get the high end of that. When companies promote internally, they have a huge advantage against random employers on the market: There is vastly less uncertainty about the employee's value. The promotion you get has every reason to be competitive with open positions on the market. But they often seem to promote into underwhelming positions, perhaps they figure the employee would value staying at the same company.
- darth_avocado 2y ago
  The problem with staff though is that it is harder to meet expectations when you change companies than if you stay at the same company. The role often requires you to be able to navigate organizational barriers effectively to do your job. And at a new company, you need to be exceptional at making connections if you want to continue to be remote. At your current company, the time you put in as a senior allows you to have those connections and therefore continue to perform as a staff engineer. This barrier is why a lot of people continue to work at the same company with underwhelming raises.

imoreno 2y ago

The problem with the raise is that you often end up getting hired into a role at the high end of the comp range for that level, since during the application you have leverage. When getting promoted, you have less bargaining power - what are you going to do, refuse the raise because it's too small? So you get promoted out of highly paid senior into underpaid staff. If you really want to be staff, you can try interviewing elsewhere for that position, and negotiate to get the high end of that. When companies promote internally, they have a huge advantage against random employers on the market: There is vastly less uncertainty about the employee's value. The promotion you get has every reason to be competitive with open positions on the market. But they often seem to promote into underwhelming positions, perhaps they figure the employee would value staying at the same company.

darth_avocado 2y ago
The problem with staff though is that it is harder to meet expectations when you change companies than if you stay at the same company. The role often requires you to be able to navigate organizational barriers effectively to do your job. And at a new company, you need to be exceptional at making connections if you want to continue to be remote. At your current company, the time you put in as a senior allows you to have those connections and therefore continue to perform as a staff engineer. This barrier is why a lot of people continue to work at the same company with underwhelming raises.