https://platformengineering.org logo
Title
m

Martin Iluminatti

04/12/2023, 1:15 AM
m

Matthew J

04/13/2023, 11:47 PM
'Competitive salary' "So what's the salary?' 'It's competitive....'
m

Martin Iluminatti

04/14/2023, 6:21 PM
It competes with your bills lol
m

Matthew J

04/14/2023, 9:11 PM
'Our compensation is 'competitive' in that, you if you're a competitive negotiator, then you'll do well.'
The game of theory behind pay transparency is a fascinating philosophical conversation from a business perspective
Because there are actually interesting, reasonable arguements for non-transparency about pay- some are pathological but somewhat amorale- you can 'get ahead' as a business by paying some people less than market rates, and often if people arn't assertive or are creatures of conform, they might not leave even if you dont give them a raise. (*PS not a fan of this, but this is literally the reasoning in HR) some could be argued to be generative- Also, not all PI candidates are equal- • When I started my first jr job, if they had put a posting up for 110-120k like some companies, I would be applying against candidates who would wildly outcalibre me. It's actually better that my company had lower ball salary numbers that they kept a bit hidden because it made me getting into this industry accessible. • Also on my team though, we've had PI candidates come in that we've hired who ARE worth 120k. They dont have Devops Exp, so technically they'd be an associate, but they might have 4-5 years of exp thats related and transferable. • If on the add we put '75-130k' for an associate, every individual coming in will aggressively negotiate for 130 • So some obfuscation of the range makes some sense. • Also there are PI's who outproduce PIIs or PIII's, so having all PI's be paid equally doesnt always make sense.
f

Frans Oilinki

04/20/2023, 7:58 AM
In my local job market, I recently saw a company advertising several AI/ML-related positions with even wider range than that “75k-130k” (60k-200k local dollars/month). I took this is as a way to communicate that they are open to accepting competent applicants without meeting the exact requirements but willing to learn the necessary technologies to succeed. I think the job posting did not clearly specify the experience level. Another company looked for stuff software engineers, saying that based on the candidate the position can be adjusted to that of senior or midlevel software engineer. It seems to me huge salary ranges work, but then need to be flexible about the level of the position. If an applicant without required experience is applying and insisting on the high end salary then it also communicates about the candidate, so the hiring company can make their conclusions from that.