Ask HN: How do I stop being exploited by my company? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I stop being exploited by my company?

10 pointsspyremeown17 comments

Context: third world embedded/kernel engineer, still in college but hey, the market is insane and I'm above the usual cut (not by much). Currently work in R&D, doing said R&D for big big first world companies.

I'm being paid peanuts, but I like the work. I fell for the "staying for the tech" and "oh my god I can work in tech!!!" memes but now the bills are catching up and I feel exploited when I give technical advice to people that receive way above my pay grade. Did I mention I'm still a junior but work as "technical reference" for one of the projects for those big big first world companies? It sucks.

I need advice. I feel like I'm too afraid to speak out for myself (I asked for a raise when another company wanted to pay me double, they agreed and they didn't speak to me since...).

Any ideas? Do I need sense knocked into my head? Thanks.

View on HN

If you have an offer from another company that pays twice as much, then just take that offer!

There are companies that will only hire the cheapest workers. They often hire students or very young people who are happy they get any job at all. They wont hire experienced devs because they are too expensive, and they wont pay you more as you get more experienced. They'll rather hire a new inexperienced dev.

If your company is like that, it's highly unlikely you'll ever be paid a good salary and leaving is your only option.

> I'm still a junior but work as "technical reference"…

The higher-ups may also perceive you as junior. Their POV, in order to earn your stripes— you’ve first got to put in the time.

Unfortunately, most big companies are not very smart about career pathing. Which is to say, developing and promoting their people from within.

What to do? Promote yourself—

Even you still feel slightly Junior— another company out there will value your accumulated experience and expertise. And importantly, willing to compensate you.

> when another company wanted to pay me double

Did you get a raise for double your salary from your current company? If not, I think you will continue getting exploited, since you've "said" to your current employer that you won't even leave them for double the pay.

It's not a real negotiation unless you are willing to walk away from the table. You already know what you need to do. Start looking for a different position. If you really want to stay at this company but don't feel like they value you then you need to have the ability to walk away when you enter the negotiation again.

If I understand this: you like your work but you feel ‘exploited’ because you are not paid enough, right?

You leave, the last time I really felt exploited I didn't even feel the need to negotiate, I just left. There is no point in trying to make things better with people who are knowingly exploiting you, you don't negotiate with tyrants.

You need jump to to a different company to improve your pay. Your current company will prefer to pay you as a junior for the rest of your life.

Some things, even things that are your right, have to be assertively taken. Not wait around for others to bestow upon you.

leave them for another company of the same type/market, with potential relocation and decent salary for your skills.

Congrats, you skillset is awesome and super valuable!

Leave

Companies will always exploit you. That's the point. What you have to do is exploit the company.

Been there. As exploited, exploiter, and big big company working around the exploiters.

It sounds like you work for a middle man. The client would be happy to hire you directly, but probably have to deal with the logistics of hiring someone in a foreign country. To them, what matters is the work gets done, even at a high price. That's why they go through the company. If you quit, the work doesn't get done. This happens a lot with exploitative agencies, people quit, they get replaced.

It's ideal for the big big comoany to hire you directly. They save money, which probably isn't their main concern. But you'll also work with the best people money can buy, on projects like the one you're doing plus other more confidential ones they won't outsource.

tldr: Find a better job. It might not be in a first world company (visa restrictions suck). But there's probably better agencies, like Toptal, who'll take care of you.

1. finish college

2. moved to a 1st world country and get a job with 1st world salary

3. go remote and move back with close to previous first world salary.

Go work for FAANG.

Welcome to capitalism where the exploiters and the exploited are the two primary classifications of people.

I don't think you really have much choice but to head toward greener pastures and start over from a new perspective. It's what the exploiters at your company would do.

As if there are alternatives to capitalism that don't have exploiters and exploited. Happens everywhere.

Happens everywhere

Yes it does. The USA just happens to be an extreme example of it.

No too many places in the world where it is fairly common for employees to be laid off after decades of service, shortly before becoming vested in the company retirement plan.

If you don't show any loyalty or decency, you can't really expect any in return.

google: social anthropology egalitarian societies.

What happens is that competitive societies have eaten up egalitarian ones, given their condition. In the same way that rust will always beat iron.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com