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Comment by Ixiaus | Hacker News Reader

Salary will range from $80-120K. (That's like $150-$200K in CA with Idaho cost of living adjustment :) )

It's fine to post the desired salary range for a candidate no matter what that range is, you'll filter out the people who are or are not willing to work for that range, which is fine.

But 80-120 in Idaho is not equiv to 150-200 in CA. Most outfits that I've worked for and spoken with pay based on "fair and equitable" comp and do not attempt to complicate the situation with a "cost of living bonus".

By phrasing it the way you have, it sounds like you're trying to get away with cheaper comp "because of lower cost of living" without actually considering that you're competing against many other companies willing to hire remotely that pay significantly more regardless of locale.

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This is exactly why companies in these threads don't put salaries because of people like you.

By the way, no other REMOTE company in this thread has a salary range.

> ...because of people like you.

Your generalization is not true. There are many reasons why a company does not want to post salary ranges and I'm quite sure that direct and non-hostile feedback about how copy for a job posting on Hacker News might be interpreted, is a small maybe even insignificant, reason.

I don't mean to make it sound like we are trying to short-change anyone. We are simply looking for great candidates wanting to live in beautiful southern Idaho. (And say that cost of living in this area is much lower than many other parts of the country). But, I can see where you can interpret my comments like that.

I can vouch for it being beautiful.

I don't even know you so don't take what I said personally, I was attempting to be helpful :)

I think stating the salary range and then providing examples of the CoL in the area without trying to justify the salary range in comparison to it is the best way to advertise the position.

Saying what you just said: We are looking for great candidates wanting to live in beautiful southern Idaho is compelling too (for people wanting to get away from the huge and congested cities).

Anyway, random internet stranger conversations, take it all with a grain of salt :)

FWIW, I think the comparison is fair if you swap out CA for the insanity of housing prices in the bay area. I do think that the brutal winters of Idaho should be accounted for though. If you're trying to convince people to move to Idaho, you might need to pay a little closer to sunshine salaries to make up for negative degree weather.

Idaho weather really isn't brutal unless you are in the north or way up in the mountains. Its really quite nice in Southern Idaho. Hot summers, absolutely perfect long falls and springs and occasional snow in the winter but it rarely sticks for more than a few days. Negative degree weather is also pretty rare. Very dry and little precipitation, again unless you are up in the mountains. The number of Californians that have moved to Idaho over the last 10 years is pretty staggering. The weather didn't stop them!

I'm actually impressed! Sounds almost as nice as Colorado weather. ;)

And yes, we also get a lot of people (myself included) who are escaping from California for various reasons. Considering the number of people who leave California, it's almost surprising that California's population is still growing, though I believe it is.

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