

Ask HN: Where do you turn for good data on market salaries? - tomkinstinch

Hi,<p>When negotiating salary with HR (or as HR) for a software engineering position, what sources do you usually rely on for numbers about market salary and total compensation?<p>Sites like glassdoor&#x2F;payscale&#x2F;salary.com&#x2F;indeed give numbers, but they do not make it clear how old the data points are, how many they include. They also do not account for biases of self-reporting by employees or companies.<p>In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gives general information[1], but since their numbers are often a couple years old.<p>Are there any good sources you would recommend? What about for large cities outside of the Bay Area?<p>1. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bls.gov&#x2F;ooh&#x2F;computer-and-information-technology&#x2F;software-developers.htm
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phantom_oracle
Using old data is fine from a macro point of view.

Contrary to SV spin, there hasn't been an "explosion" in salary levels (and in
the few areas where salaries are high, they've been that high for a few years
now).

>When negotiating salary with HR (or as HR) for a software engineering
position, what sources do you usually rely on for numbers about market salary
and total compensation?

As far as this goes, it is more an art and less a technical exercise. If
you're proverbially a "sweet talker", you should be able to negotiate up to
the companies maximum cap for that position.

Finding out what that cap is? Well that is the art.

As per your original question, try to get cozy with the hiring departments at
universities and the HR that visits those universities to get some data on
their salaries.

I think most people these days rely on glassdoor and/or payscale because they
seem to provide (mostly) accurate data.

~~~
tdfx
Anecdotally, most people just use glassdoor or similar sites. However, be sure
to keep in mind that the way they group "similar" jobs may not be perfect.

For example, "software developers" in Philadelphia have an avg salary of
$76,387, whereas "software engineers" have an avg salary of $71,476. The
difference? I have no idea.

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jghn
Mainly from talking to colleagues, I haven't found a particularly accurate
site.

Salaryfairy.com was the heart of a Show HN[1] and they made some great claims
but I've found it very low in my area (Boston). I _know_ I'm underpaid
(intentionally, I work at a place not known for high salaries, but I like it)
and yet I've yet to see someone's profile where the crowd wisdom was higher
than my salary. Furthermore both the site's and the crowd's estimate for me
were well below my salary

1\.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7449356](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7449356)

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seekingcharlie
Sign up for an account at [http://hired.com/](http://hired.com/) & participate
in the auction. You can set your location & will get an understanding of what
is market for your area.

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leeny
I really like salar.ly -- it's a collection of salaries of people with work
visas (they have to report their salaries) that acts as a decent proxy for
salaries as a whole.

~~~
tomkinstinch
Aren't H1B workers known to have depressed salaries relative to their domestic
counterparts?

~~~
leeny
Sure, but it's consistent (I think ~15% or so based on some anecdotal
evidence), so you can still use the data effectively.

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chadkruse
I haven't checked in quite some time, but AngelList used to do a great job at
this.

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digitalpacman
Glass Door.

