HN Explorer

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

8 points by tomkinstinch ↗ HN
Hi,

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?

Sites like glassdoor/payscale/salary.com/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.

In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gives general information[1], but since their numbers are often a couple years old.

Are there any good sources you would recommend? What about for large cities outside of the Bay Area?

1. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm

9 comments

[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 22.7 ms ] thread
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.

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

chadkruse
I haven't checked in quite some time, but AngelList used to do a great job at this.
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.
seekingcharlie
Sign up for an account at http://hired.com/ & participate in the auction. You can set your location & will get an understanding of what is market for your area.