Ask HN: Salary offer significantly lower than consulting arrangement | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Salary offer significantly lower than consulting arrangement

4 pointsimfromthewoods6 comments

Hey HN -

I've been working with startups for the past 12+yrs, many of which have been YC companies. I've been a consultant for the majority of that time.

I've been working with a YC company since June as a consultant for $10k/mo flat rate. If I take any days off, I pro-rate my invoice accordingly.

I received a written offer today for a full time role - something I've been looking forward to! However, the offer was for $90k with 0.1%. I would have to relocate across the country to accept the job.

I'm left feeling like I'm being asked to move, surrender a significant amount of freedom (I have no commute now & can travel as long as I'm online during business hours), and take a pay cut at the same time. A big part of me thinks I'm being selfish by focusing on what I'm losing - rather than what I'm gaining (I LOVE the people I'm working with). I don't think they'd be interested in extending my current consulting contract if I didn't accept the full-time role.

Would it be fair to ask to maintain a $120k salary (equiv to my $10k/mo contract) plus benefits? I realize that technically this is a raise, though I feel like the raise is justified by the move across country + loss of some freedom.

If you were in my shoes - what would you do?

Thank you!

$120k with no benefits probably = $90k with benefits, from a cost-to-the-company point of view. You have to look at how much those benefits matter to you.

Then there's the move. One of the things that should happen is, they should offer to pay for the move. If they don't, that's an issue. If you don't want to move, that's a bigger issue. Since they don't seem to have any problem with you being remote as a consultant, it might be worth asking if you can remote as a full-time employee.

I would definitely ask for $120k, or even 10k more. The cost of replacing you is going to be higher if you have worked almost a year with them and contributed to their code base. The fact is that you should be selfish, they will not give it a second thought if for whatever reason they decide to let you go. You can ask for a sign on bonus, if they don't want to have a larger salary on the paper (say they want to show their burn rate is low).

> Would it be fair to ask to maintain a $120k salary

You should always ask. If they don't come up, then you have to make a decision from there. I'm assuming this is an engineering role; if so, $90k + 0.1% with 12+ yrs experience is pretty low in almost any area (US).

I'd agree. Even if they are covering full relo (which they really should be if they are requiring you to move), 90k is pretty low to move TO California. If you were moving to Kansas than that'd be different, still not realistic overall but way closer.

If you are heading to the SF area, that's even worse, then say LA.

I'd be asking for a more fair salary. Basically they did the math of benefits and took most of it out of your offer. The reality is if they have to hire a full time employee in CA with 12+ years they'll likely spend more than $120k/year.

To be fair, I think a lot of startups today are stuck not understanding how to pay people with experience. I think they get little to no solid advice on how to properly make offers and so they suck at it generally. I've seen them offer $40k & .5% thinking that is fair for people with major experience. But if you go back to them and talk about it sanely and not confrontationally you'll be fine. Many times they just don't know where to start so they take a guess and to me it seems like they took most of the benefits cost out of your current salary and then made an offer.

You shouldn't be below $100k. And remember the equity is worthless, so don't consider it as part of the offer, it is just a bonus that is like buying a lottery ticket with about the same odds. :)

> You shouldn't be below $100k

Entry level base salary (not including signing bonus, stock, RSUs, annual bonus, etc) in Bay Area even 5 years ago was $110-140k for level 0 eng. Sounds like the startup is trying to get one heck of a deal at your expense.

Thanks to all (so far & in the future) for your insight. It's very appreciated.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com