Here's Glassdoor info about Google. I chose the following cities because Glassdoor said they had "high confidence". Consider it anecdotal:
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-Sa...
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-To...
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-Ba...
- Glassdoor San Francisco SWE - "AVG Base - $129,065"
- GitLab Average at Intermediate: $160,000
- Glassdoor Bangalore Google SWE - ₹1,691,257 current exchange == $23,785.84
- GitLab Average at Intermediate: ₹3,406,961
- Glassdoor Toronto SWE Google - $119,055 CAD current exchange == $89,925.81
- GitLab Average at Intermediate: $114,075 CAD
(This doesn't account "perks" and RSUs and such which I assume Google's are larger, so Google comp can probably be 20-40% higher. Consider doing a search of your own with $company of your choice to compare.)
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Do I want to live in a world where everyone gets paid the exact same for the same work, and everything costs the same everywhere because we have perfectly efficient markets, absolutely.
Do I think companies are dumb for making competitive wages for local markets? Not at all. We live the majority of our life in a local market.
Can workers find companies that are "outliers" that will pay them the same for their work no matter where they are? Yep.
Do I think that due to globalization and a remote work force over time we will have more evenly distributed salary. Yep.
All I want is for you (and others) to bring the same vigor for salary to any tech company thread as people do to GitLab's. We are a tech company that built our compensation model like many other tech companies (and other global companies). We also allow you to work where you live and want to pay a wage that is respectable in that region. Just like Google.
The next time a thread comes up for any company on HN, I want anyone reading's first thought to be: "I wonder if they pay people the same in different cities?" Let's talk about it more than just in GitLab threads, and we can start that acceleration towards perfect salary around the world.
Edit: I think it goes without saying, but I wanna be abundantly clear, these thoughts are my own, and I'm a longstanding member of this community first, and an employee of GitLab second. No one asked me to go on this rant this AM, I was just tired.