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Comment by throwaway6734 | Hacker News Reader

Switch jobs to one that pays better or move

other resources - no judgment, just what I've observed in worker movements:

- overemployment: take multiple remote jobs, meet expectations on performance but not on hours-in-seat

- "indie dev" path with recurring saas/IAP is also worth considering but obviously doesn't work at scale to solve these issues (ancaps would have you believe that the solution is for every person to become a business)

- talk compensation with your coworkers (check your labor rights) and organize

Talking compensation has opened my eyes to this. We need to stop this culture of being secretive about compensation.

it benefits no one but the employer, and talking about it is usually legally protected (though look out for illegal retaliation). the ridiculous double standard of employers shaming workers for talking pay is that they all spend time and money organizing regional pay standards with other employers, whether through their VC firms, exec connections, or research firms. It's time we really take their advice to "act like owners".

Honestly, I'm very conflicted about this.

My issue is not directly with my salary. It's more with the fact the I'm being payed less when compared to my peers in other locations while I'm doing the same/more work.

Location doesn't influence output, why should it influence the pay scale?

It's not just location that warps salary. I've worked with plenty of people senior to me that contributed less than me but got paid more. The only solution I've found is to change jobs

How do you judge ‘contributed less’? More senior people generally have more skill and a better understanding of the product, making them more able to make decisions that carry much more value to the business than labor from non-senior employees

The perception that YOE == skill matters far more than people would care to admit.

because you're not being paid on your input, markets don't run on the labour theory of value. You're being paid for the lowest amount that you, or someone else, is willing to do your job, and that amount happens to be lower in a place with lower cost of living.

people earn more in San Francisco because the rent is a gazillion dollars and if they got paid Indian wages nobody would show up at the office.

> people earn more in San Francisco because the rent is a gazillion dollars

It's actually the other way around. Rent is a gazillion dollars because people are paid so much and the housing supply is very limited.

Simple supply and demand. If nobody accepts the pay, it will rise.

This is best accomplished in coordination, just as employers coordinate against workers (whether illegal anti-poaching agreements or by sharing market data with each other etc.)

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