🎁 My Holiday Gift to You: an eqn for comparing offers

I've seen many posts asking to compare offers with different TCs and expected hour commitments (all else being equal). Here I'm posting a walkthrough of a method I developed to handle just this question. As an added bonus it attempts to value your non work hours - an important question to answer as we try to decide if its worth working at a more intensive job for a fatter paycheck. In advance I apologize for my crappy code / equations. It's a little involved but very useful. So if you have a few minutes strap in. I welcome all questions and constructive feedback. BASIC EQUATION: Ok, let's get started. Here's the main equation, explanation bellow: hrs_array = array(1:hrs_per_day) pay_array = pay_per_yr / (length(hrs_array)/2) * hrs_array What just happened up there is we created an array for each hour you work in the day (hrs_array). So if you work from 9-5 you're working 8 hrs, create an array from 1:8. Some people work 5 hrs, some 10. Whatever it is, that's your array. The second line (pay_array) distributes the pay by hour. It is weighted such that the least pay is allocated to hour 1 and the most pay for the last hour. Here's a real example: pay_array = 320,000 / (length( array(1:8) )^2/2) * array(1:8) = 320k / (64/2) * (1:8) = (10k, 20k.... 80k) HERES WHY: I'm going to elaborate on the pay distribution for a moment. The logic is driven by some psychology and some econ. If I had no job I'd be desperate and accept the lowest pay. I'd also be bored. So during the first hour I'm cheap. The more hours that get eaten the less desperate I am. Plus I have fewer hours left in the day to live my life, so my price goes up. Eventually you hit your limit and you need sleep, time to eat, shower and shit. Getting to have 1 or 2 hours for non essentials becomes extremely valuable. The equation linearly changes the distribution but really it would be more of an exponential. Simplifying assumption. Let's stay linear for this post. COMPARING OFFERS: We can now answer the question "What is the value of each incremental hour that you work in that role?" That's the 'pay_array'. We can directly compare a role where you work 5 hr/d to another where you work 9 hr/d, even if they have different TCs. The simplest comparison is to look at each role's 'pay_array' and compare pays on the nth hour. That's a little abstract so you may want to make the number of hours directly align between two roles. After aligning the hours you'll be able to compare the TCs. Here's the eqn: r1_pay_array_adj = r1_pay_per_yr / (length(r1_hrs_array)^2/2) * r2_hrs_array Let's use the prior example's role and a new role: - Role 1 for 8hr/d at 320k/yr - Role 2 for 9hr/d at 390k/yr r1_pay_array_adj = 320,000 / (length( array(1:8) )^2/2) * array(1:9) = 320k / (64/2) * (1:9) = (10k, 20k.... 80k, 90k) Let's interpret this. The sum of the output array is what your TC for Role 1 should be (based on our assumptions) if you were working the same # of hours per day as for Role 2. This never happens but its what I think is fair based on how Role 1 values your hours. So, our new figures are: - Role 1 (adjusted) for 9hr/d at 410,000 - Role 2 for 9hr/d at 390k/yr HERES THE CONCLUSION: Based on the above example, Role 2 underpays relative to Role 1 in the 9th hour by 20k. Even though Role 1 doesn't offer to pay in the 9th hour, it validate the worth of your personal time and / or how much you should be paid for that additional hour. Changing from Role 1 to Role 2 is a 70k increase in TC. That's a 22% bump (320k -> 390k). However it may very well be a underselling yourself. Don't forget the value of your own time. CAVEATS: This model does not in any way account for the quality of the work, culture, title, etc. It is purely TC v hrs. Also, I realize that hours can vary and it can be hard to predict before you take on a role. Use it in good health. Happy holidays. TC: 🔥 #tech #misc