Thoughts on salaries (we’re in an interesting time)
I work for MSFT and previously a FANG (I’ve dropped Amazon from that acronym and I encourage others to do the same). I live in a low cola area and work remote.
At a neighborhood poker game a recruiter more familiar with the local tech scene kept trying to start a conversation with me. I was polite, but I understand how my salary differs from someone in my area (say a self-described J2EE developer who works on contract for a bank or hospital ), so I usually keep talks with ‘local’ recruiters short.
The next day he grabs my email from a mutual friend and shoots me a message. Apparently a big 4 consulting firm is hiring a “Director of DevOps”, this position is responsible for technical direction of “the program”. This will be a manager of managers who will have a total headcount of more than 30 people reporting to them.
I’m intrigued by this- I’m an IC and have never been a manager for context. I call the recruiter just to get some more info. He sells the role hard and then says, “ the salary will be at the very top of the pay scale, this will pay 200-210k”. I’m polite and professional, but I explain that number is significantly less than I make now and close to entry level for several large tech firms.
It made me think: what if we are actually in an insane bubble? This big, reputable-ish, company is hiring a director with a tech background and trying to pay 200k. They’ll probably be able to fill that with someone somewhat competently.
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Glassdoor says that the average partner at kpmg makes ~590k/ year with a range up to 1M/year.
This is comparable to staff/principle engineer at FANG. It’s less than sr manager/ Director 1 at FANG.
Which path is easier to hit I ask??
comments
It's part of the winner take all nature of tech because of the lack of direct human interaction. Many other business don't scale like this and this can't pay like it.
This fact will only accelerate, so I don't see a change soon.
And they invest it in people. Now is the time they have extra money to grow their headcount, start working on more stuff = more profits. It’s a positive feedback loop.
Doing so would just decrease TC for everyone. Simple supply and demand.
Better to have a fake bar that can be used to justify such ridiculous salaries. Do you think hiring top earners in other industries is somehow different?