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Comment by johnchristopher | Hacker News Reader

Just an anecdote: I sometime drop to friends and acquaintances that salary is one of the last taboo in our modern western society but it's a really strong one. Either it ends there with a joke comment or it sparks a conversation about an individual's worth in society and among friends.

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I'm wondering if that's a "previous generation" thing that's slowly going away, or if I'm just living in a bubble. I know (or have known and forgotten) the salary of most people in my extended peer group (25-30 year olds mostly). If the topic we are talking about is jobs, or a new job someone got, the person usually either flat out says it, or someone in the group will ask with little hesitation.

How much do you and your extended peer group earn ? My initial reaction is that if you earning well above average and your peers as well then it's way easier than sharing that info with people earning way less. Or if you earn above the minimum wage but not by much you won't share with that SV hotshot.

Anything from 2k€ - 20k€/month, so pretty varied. This is from very varied backgrounds in different industries (software engineering over caregiver to business consulting), different education levels, and also got to know them in very different ways (high school; job; friend of a friend). All in Germany, which I think is about as secretive about salaries as the US traditionally, but also spread out across all parts of the country.

This is why I thought it might be a generational thing, as that's the only common denominator I was able to make out.

I live in Germany as well & haven't noticed people being that eager to share their salaries (although it's also not that hard to find out).

Even here in Germany where salary talks are serious taboos, the younger generation is definitely more open about it.

I had people repeatedly asking me for my salary after accepting a new job. I think things have seriously changed.

It just goes to show that people DO associate their worth with their salary. I talk about my salary with my friends because we realize that it's all kind of a crapshoot and/or a matter of choosing whether or not to sell your soul.

That's a point I usually bring in the conversation: for all our talk about equality, sharing resources, etc. we still tend to associate with people who earn in the same bracket.

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