If you’ve been keeping up with technology news, you’ve likely come across one or two articles recently about developer salary. There are some strong opinions out there.
There are those that believe we should go public with how much we’re all paid. Others say this will cause the closest of colleagues to never speak again. Some companies, like Gravity Payments, have famously implemented radical pay policies with mixed results.
It leaves many employees asking, how do I know if my salary is fair, and who can I ask? Should I be negotiating for more pay?
The problem is, there are so many factors to take into account – where you’re based, seniority, company size, bonuses and benefits. All of which make it incredibly difficult to figure out if you’re paid fairly, or if you should be negotiating for more.
I’ve personally hired hundreds of technologists and engineers over the last few years at a Series A level startup and a Fortune 500 company. I’ve experienced salary negotiations both as a coder and as a manager many times over.
My general advice would be, it shouldn’t be all about the cash. There are more important factors, such as whether you’re happy at work.
But putting that to one side, let’s talk about the money.
The formula for salary
Of course, there isn’t a magical formula. But there is a typical process that most companies follow to determine your salary when you first join. They usually look at four inputs:
The first two inputs are the most important. The others are used to validate and confirm.
At an early stage startup like untapt, where cash flow and funding are big considerations in general, there’s a fifth input: how much money is in the bank!
Ongoing performance and salary review
At most companies, large and small, there’s a regular pay review process that goes hand-in-hand with your performance review. Your manager will look at your personal results, then compare your salary with your peers and the industry benchmarks.
Then they may decide to award you a pay increase. Again, budget will play a role. At this point, they could also discuss cash bonuses, equity and options (but that’s a whole different topic that we’ll leave for a future blog post!)
The counter-offer
If you get an offer to work somewhere else, your company may scramble to keep you. Your manager will follow a similar process to the initial offer, but with a little more urgency.
“So should I always get some additional offers from other places, just to make sure I’m getting paid fairly?” you might ask.
Getting competitive offers can help boost your pay in the short term, and it’s always good to keep your interview skills fresh. But longer term, your employer is likely to go by your performance and whatever’s fair and consistent with your team. (Of course, this all assumes you stay in your current job and don’t actually take one of the competing bids!).
So what are these salary ranges?
Here’s a rough guide to salary for engineers based on my experience with the market, and the roles we have on the untapt platform.
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