|
Natty Ninefingers posted:My wife has got an offer for a job in Seattle. Its a ten percent raise over what she makes now for strictly salary. Benefits are a little less, but she's coming from a state job that had a whizzo union contract which is not going to continue. However, projected cost of living increase is thirty percent...which seems like a hell of a reach. We definitely want to move to Seattle. Where are you moving from? If it's not NYC or SF you need to think long and hard about this and the compensation.
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2017 04:24
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 10:13 |
|
|
Grumpwagon posted:I've been approached to possibly do a 1099 contracting job full time. I'm not sure if I'm interested for many reasons, but setting those aside, is there a good rule of thumb about how much more I should expect to be paid to make up for the benefits/tax situation? I found some random calculator that suggested ~25%, but I'd be interested in hearing other opinions. I typically bill 50% more than hourly/salary backed into hourly on 1099. I've rarely gotten much pushback on that in the tech field. And I'm talking for full time longer term stuff. Shorter term is higher. Remember, it's not just additional tax burden plus healthcare/benefits: you can't really look for work when you're working full time, there is an opportunity cost to being totally off the market for other 1099 work for a while, you don't have much control over when they might axe you, etc. Motronic fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Mar 8, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2017 02:11
|
|
|
Fireside Nut posted:I've broached the subject a few times and the response seems to be a "yeah, we are planning on building a larger team over time." It's a tepid enough response it's really scaring me. Does anyone have any advice for this situation? What kind of assurance for adding another FTE is reasonable (assuming they will have to go through all the budget/HR/etc. perils normally associated with getting an entirely new position approved)? The correct question for a director level position is "what is my budget for hiring my team and will there be any interference/requirements from outside of my organization on hires?" If the answer isn't something like "you have x head count reqs open, y dollars to spend on them and you hire whoever you feel is best" you aren't actually being offered a director position, just the title and you are their new IC bitch that also need to deal with the guy nobody else likes to talk to but knows too much to fire.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2017 02:31
|
|
|
EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:Blue collar, white collar, gently caress all this class division bullshit - you're a loving professional and you conduct yourself accordingly. That merits fair compensation! Congratulations on getting paid to get better at what you're already good at. Sky's the limit. Seriously. Great job eighty-four merc. Salary negotiation isn't about white/blue collar or whatever other division tactics, it's universal: knowing your worth in the context of an employer, improving yourself, putting in the time to prove it to your employer/build a resume for other employment opportunities, and asking for what you're worth. You nailed every one of those, and you can continue to repeat this process.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 3, 2017 19:26
|
|
|
eighty-four merc posted:I guess my impression is that these practices are so commonplace as to be expected from pretty much every white collar professional. Newp! Most people take what they are offered and sit in the dead end jobs forever and just do what they have to for fear of getting fired. Your impression of what people do is probably heavily tainted by this thread as well as your own experience and how you see things, but I'd guess you/we are all very much in the minority - which is great because it makes things even easier.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2017 15:55
|
|
|
Flying Leatherman posted:They're likely to meet my ask salarywise, which is going to be really nice, but I'm wondering when to talk about benefits -- when the offer is extended? Any tips on negotiating benefits? You talk about market competitive total compensation and wait for them to make the first offer on a comp package. There is no way to negotiate salary without knowing benefits and other comp.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2017 16:51
|
|
|
poe meater posted:How do you guys negotiate with your current employer in regards to a pay increase about a fairly unique position where it's hard to compare? I would say I'm almost close to indispensable but really who knows. You figure out that you're not nearly as indispensable as you think. Even if it impacts business temporarily you absolute are replaceable. Make sure you negotiate from a position of being the bet fit, not that rear end in a top hat that would be too painful to get rid of but we will if we have to.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 25, 2017 01:54
|
|
|
Defenestration posted:no tech background nor programming skills. I am in the final stages of implementing a database, at which point I will have super desirable experience that can translate to both the corporate and non-profit sectors. Question here: how do you know your database implementation is reliable, scalable, proper protected from data loss, etc if you have no tech background? If you haven't demonstrable gained those skills I'm not sure how this experience translates into much of anything, as there are plenty of tools to just make a "database" that take little more than some MS Office experience. If you've skipped over some training or methodology you've used to do this project your answer as to BATNA is going to be much different.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2018 19:30
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:I don't think this matters. You don't have to have created a world class database, just be able to talk about it like one, including design issues you had and how you addressed them. Interviewers can't generally tell anything about what you've done, only what you say you've done and can talk about competently. So talk about how you load-tested the database with <some number> of concurrent connections hammering it for scalability, perhaps over a long period of times with bursts for reliability, etc. Maybe you didn't actually do these things, but maybe you can at least think about them and describe how you would test to a greater degree in order to scale it. Basically, sounding competent matters more than being competent as far as resume line items go. I must have explained poorly: I think exactly what you said is exactly what matters. So was it enough of "building a database" to at least be aware of these things, or is it something created in Access '98? That's my real question. One is something that will help you the other is not.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2018 20:57
|
|
|
Defenestration posted:Sure, I'll clarify this a bit. After a long research and user listening tour period, I contracted us with an enterprise DAMS vendor that has many other cultural sector clients. We host on their cloud so they do that maintenance (which is good since we have 3 IT people onsite total). I meanwhile project managed the rest of the implementation: organized the metadata schema, folder structure, initial asset delivery (over 100,000, which will grow), user groups, permissions, and request forms. I will plan all the training sessions, do an internal campaign to promote the thing (buy in is very important), and act as general admin in the future (adding/deactivating users, making sure people don't upload fool garbage, checking the analytics. So you learned how to be a product or project manager. Positioning yourself as that is a LOT more valuable than a database guy. All of the soft skills you used to do this (advocating, training, etc) are both far more valuable and far more portable than the technical minutiae required from your doing this project as a one man show. I mean, unless you want to strike out on your own an be a guy who implements these systems. In that case, go back to your vendor and see if they want to hire you or feed you with leads of their customers that need implementation help.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 9, 2018 15:34
|
|
|
Not Grover posted:I have looked into the COL as it compares to where I live now and calculators tell me it’s 10-15% cheaper where I would be moving to. I looked into rents and they range from comparable to better than my current area for the same kinds of housing. I haven’t actually been there so I am a little under informed about which neighborhoods are lovely to live in, but I am investing that as well. I am not bothered by the idea of moving to Texas, just dealing with the cost associated with packing up and shipping out there. I have some family and friends out that way. You need to plan a trip there. Preferably on their dime, for at least several days. Perhaps you can meet with whomever is working on finding/opening this office, perhaps you can help scout locations. I get they don't have an office there yet. This is even worse - because you have no idea what they are going to get and what it's going to be like. You should at least investigate the area and other job opportunities in your field(s) in case things go wrong and make sure you actually want to live there.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2018 04:57
|
|
|
sim posted:The point for me is a $20K raise. I'm going from a smaller startup with no proven business model to a larger one with funding. Having worked for startups most of my career, I don't see a lot of risk. I find the risk of layoffs from a larger company to be just as likely. I'm with asur here. Also as someone who has been in startups for most of my career. And one of them went public last year. Good thing I didn't think 100 shares was a fair deal or I wouldn't be paying cash for my next house.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2018 21:26
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:This is genuinely awesome for you, but I think this is still akin to a lottery winner advising people to play the lottery. I am fully aware of that, and how it sounds. But I'm also fully aware of how to negotiate these deals. If you can't get meaningful equity at this stage of a startup they will just consistently gently caress you and at that point why would you deal with a startup? Or at least why deal with THAT startup? Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Most people who work for startups will not have any payout like that regardless of how well they negotiate for equity. Just like the 7 other startups I have worthless paper from. I understand this concept. Which is why I call them lottery tickets. But you need to have them in a meaningful quantity to make the additional risk and bullshit worth it. Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:The ones who instead press for more cash get to keep their extra cash even if the startup fails, and statistically, it will. My assertion is that you need to get both, and if you can't get both you don't want to work for them. The employee/founder equity pool is literally free to them at this point. Every angel/seriesX investor respects this. You know who doesn't get respected? The person who doesn't know that and couldn't negotiate well enough to get a meaningful piece of the pie. And if the startup itself doesn't know any of this........run. Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:(A number of shares is also kinda irrelevant, you gotta know what percentage it is to reason about it.) Of course, I'm going by industry norms here, where 100 shares is .000000000001% of a company. This is pretty formulaic these days. Nobody is forming a corp for the purposes of a startup/getting funding with 10k shares. The odds say this is a Delaware corp with 10M shares, only a fraction of which are currently issued because you actually have to pay annually on the number of those, rather than total shares. This is the game, and why all of these are formed in DE.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2018 22:10
|
|
|
spf3million posted:Does anyone know if there is a convention for placement within pay bands when being promoted? Anecdotally we shoot for 15% bump when we promote one level. This roughly falls in line a bit lower in the new pay band. If someone is up for promotion, they are probably well above midpoint already. This gives the manage the runway to give them increases before their next promotion. Motronic fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Apr 6, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2018 17:41
|
|
|
Jordan7hm posted:I’ve been told that they are possibly willing to make me an offer I can’t refuse. I honestly don’t know what that looks like. A multi-year commitment from them with a gigantic golden parachute. In writing. Reviewed by your own employment/contract attorney and fully executed by both parties.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 10, 2018 20:38
|
|
|
Betazoid posted:1. What can I call myself? We have formalized roles with the titles of Assistant, Coordinator, and Manager, and I don't think I will be allowed to use any of those. Is Team Liaison too dinky? My official title is Editor so I'd be on the org chart as Editor / Team Liaison. Maybe Team Lead would be better? I don't want Temp in it because it sounds like a temp promotion for me. Agreed you don't want "temp" in it, but you aren't really their manager unless you're dealing with the HR end of it. So try something with "lead" in it. In my industry it's pretty typical to have the most senior engineer on the team as a "Tech Lead", who generally directs the day to day work of the other engineers on the team with overall guidance from the engineering manager and/or product manager.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2018 22:50
|
|
|
gandlethorpe posted:I don't want to insist that I'm special or anything, but I do think they'd have an incredibly hard time replacing me, due to the unique combination of roles I fill. You just highlighted a risk to them and if they are a well run business they will be actively working to mitigate it.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2018 15:02
|
|
|
Hoodwinker posted:And if they're not, it's not your problem. Really, it's not. My point was that mitigation could (will) include giving him his raise for the next 6 months while they work that out and then boot him.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2018 17:42
|
|
|
Guinness posted:Even if the stars align and that startup makes it big and gets to some major liquidity event a few years down the road, the odds that a) you still are still there and own/can exercise the equity/options and b) haven't been diluted to nothingness are not in your favor. Until that liquidity event (that probably never happens), the equity is effectively worthless and there is no secondary market for it. My_life_in_startups.txt Including the last sentence. I would not suggest this path. It's too much luck and too much pain. And you might not get lucky. And even in the beginning of this I would have known better than to work for that startup.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2018 01:41
|
|
|
Thin Privilege posted:Read OP, but I'm not sure it answered my situation entirely. I'm working a retail-ish job and making let's say $13 an hour. The guy that's my friend but also district manager already has known that for months and is now just needing a store or assistant manager so it sucks that he knows my salary and that I'm hourly, not salaried (hourly is better for these jobs imo). Wtf do I do when they ask what I want to be paid? Do I be like, I want $17/hr cause that's what GMs at my other franchise made? Do I ball high? Should I ask what they're offering and be like "that's not enough"? Both jobs are drat hard btw so I want to be compensated. Well, you know what other people doing that job make, so that's solid. But what are you going to do if they say "no, you'll be getting paid this lesser amount"? Unless you have something else lined up you basically have no leverage.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2018 02:50
|
|
|
pumped up for school posted:In 2013 they offered to buy me out with gear instead of cash so I could start up my own shop..............Where's my shovel? You already found it and kept digging.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2018 03:28
|
|
|
pumped up for school posted:The terms of that deal included some other negatives. Most notably agreeing to take over some long-term contracts that were dogs. Oh, so you were just handed a new shovel. Good for you. Look. I get changing jobs isn't optimal. But go back and read your own posts.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2018 04:02
|
|
|
Why didn't you take the position you were offered at the competitor? That's going to be how you get a significant raise in this situation. There seems to be little chance you'll get anywhere close to $82-85k out of this company any time soon. And if you press the issue and they do start paying you that they will be doing it only for as long as it takes to replace you.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2018 18:23
|
|
|
bamhand posted:That seems pretty wrong? Your current salary (including the whole benefits package) should be a floor for your next salary at a minimum. I get where ratbert90 is coming from, but it turns out the answer is a lot more complicated than black and white. Surprise surprise. No, you shouldn't be giving up your salary information during a negotiation. But your total comp absolutely does provide an anchor mentally and the telegraphing of that anchor past mental is your title and tenure in the line of work. Oh wait, so you say I can just hold an inflated title and be underpaid and be fine on the next job as a way to move up? No, you can't. Because that means you're the kind of person who doesn't know how to negotiate properly so you will get dicked on your next job also. Increasing the bone density of your spine takes time.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2018 23:58
|
|
|
ratbert90 posted:It should be a floor, but far too often people will go “my current salary is X, so I will ask for ${x} + y%” which is dumb and bad. What you are missing in your otherwise very correct assessment there is that you don't get that better paying job at market rate without the relevant experience (and very often previous title) and actually negotiating for the correct market pay. There is both a loose experience/job requirement, a skill and a mindset required to pull this off. Looking at it in a vacuum as if everyone is qualified for the position they are trying to apply for and was qualified for the last one really diminishes the value of advice given in this thread. Situations like this are nuanced. People change careers, people stretch for things when there are job openings. People legitimately take bad deals temporarily to set themselves up for good deals in the future. The constant to this is that most are very adverse to going down in salary. So the most powerful emotional anchor is in fact your current salary.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2018 00:15
|
|
|
Jordan7hm posted:Hey I agree with this. But as motronics says it absolutely creates a floor. Other than in very specific circumstances, most of which are ill advised and related to career change. The few mostly okay ones I see are related to moving to a lower cost of living area and solving for X where X is the difference between the cost of living in the old place vs. the new one. But even then you should probably be getting a premium over that for the move unless it was exuberantly voluntary (you know, like someone getting the gently caress out of the bay area....that makes a pay cut totally worth it).
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2018 01:19
|
|
|
Rex-Goliath posted:I'm thinking about asking for the first significant raise in my career and want to make sure no one thinks I"m about to walk into a mine field. First, a little backstory: Get your resume together and look for another job. It's not clear how your previous underpayment had any impact at all on your pay at this job, unless you didn't read the OP of this thread and actually told them what you were making. You need to not do that this time. You aren't going to get a meaningful raise at this job. Just move on, and do a better job negotiating this time.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2019 02:45
|
|
|
Rex-Goliath posted:Yeah I let it slip. Lesson learned I'm not trying to dunk on you, but this entire thread can be boiled down to two things: 1.) Research the market value of the position you are applying for and know what it's worth. Negotiate based on that number and never tell them what you were making at the last place. 2.) You are exceptionally unlikely to get a meaningful raise at your current job, ever. If you want a raise and have the skillset to take a position (even if it's the very same you you have now) with a market value that is in line with what you want to make then go find another job. 2a.) Do no accept the counter offer from your current employer when you've found that better paying job, because they are only going to match/beat that salary until the find someone to replace you at or below your previous compensation. It's really that simple in today's climate. That might change.....I hope it changes. But that's how things go down right now in so many cases that it's not just "common" (so you might have the feeling that you are in a better position that most and can beat the odds), and it's not even "overwhelmingly correct" (where you might have such a high opinion of yourself that you still don't think this applies). It's like 98% of all situations in the US right now. Motronic fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Jun 3, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2019 03:24
|
|
|
Start looking now. Get offers. Know your worth. You sound like you have Stockholm Syndrome. Your employer does not give a poo poo about you as a person. You need to internalize that.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2019 03:48
|
|
|
Keystoned posted:Yeah you are more likely to move up by switching jobs but the idea that the second you are hired your employer is the enemy to get as far away from as possible isnt good advice. Nobody in this thread has said that. You seem confused because so many people come to this thread because their employer _IS_ in fact the enemy because they are being underpaid. I've been working for the same place for over 4 years and I've been paid market for the positions I've held the entire time. I'm perfectly happy with them. This is why I and other people in similar situations don't need to post here.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2019 16:13
|
|
|
L0cke17 posted:..... I've been working at a startup ..... my equity is all grants, no options bullshit I'd like to drill down on this. Why do you think options are "bullshit"? There is a very serious tax disadvantage to RSU grants in an illiquid company (i.e. startup). (FYI, I'm assuming RSUs. Options that are given are also grants, so I don't think you quite have the terminology down)
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2019 03:39
|
|
|
L0cke17 posted:According to the paperwork I signed when I started I was granted common stock full stop. What was your tax burden? This is typically the problem. Also, there was no vesting period? You have all of this equity vested right now/as of signing? That's kinda of a red flag to me as to management experience/quality.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2019 04:51
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:He said the vesting period ends this fall which is somewhere around 4-5 years. Sorry, I missed that. So then the real question is how much real money has he put into this illiquid equity? The whole "I can totally sell it with first right of refusal...." thing is what everyone says before they know how this poo poo works. I get that's what is says in your equity agreement, but you have almost no way to sell any of this ever in any reasonable scenario that doesn't look like a near term liquidity event. I guess what I'm getting to is that this kind of equity is a lottery ticket. You shouldn't be paying for it (in tax burden when you cant' reasonable sell to cover at least). I'm saying this as someone who has won this lottery. And that doesn't make me change a thing about my position on it. Motronic fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Jul 2, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2019 05:03
|
|
|
Sorry, continue on. But the questions about the raise have everything to do about what you current comp is, and it doesn't seem like you have a handle on that. It also seems like because of that you may be mis-valuing things you consider a raise. I'll leave this to others to give you advice.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2019 05:21
|
|
|
priznat posted:I hate the added complexity of RSUs which puts the onus on you to figure out all the taxes and pay the fees for brokerage sites to sell it and disperse the cash etc. Pain in the rear end. Of course there are some complexities. You have accept the grant, they withhold an estimate (and you can choose to sell to cover that or put in cash), and then you need to decide when to sell. But none of this is rocket surgery. In the right company this is a huge benefit that is relatively "easier" to give out than base salary.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2019 03:27
|
|
|
Cacafuego posted:Reading that has got me wondering. For the people that actually are hiring managers, what do you do with someone who you’ve done the legwork to being in for an interview and you want them for the position and they drop a ridiculously high salary requirement on you? I don't drop them immediately, but I try to understand where the expectation mismatch occurred. Very often it's them thinking the position is being paid in $BayBux since we an SF company when in reality it's being paid based on where the position is located - which is very often not in the bay area. I have very well defined salary bands based on position, level and location. I will typically start somewhere in the middle of that band but go towards the higher end for a very well qualified candidate. In the end, I'm not the one who gets to make up the rules. Maybe, just MAYBE if this person is above the position level and I can use someone more senior I can go back and try to get budget/shift other hiring budget around to accommodate turning that position into a more senior one, but that's not always going to be the case. Sometimes a deal just isn't going to work out and I move on to the next candidate.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2019 18:39
|
|
|
.8% means this place is not public, has no reasonable path towards going public, and is terribly small or badly mismanaged. That equity is worth $0.00.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2019 20:18
|
|
|
There's nothing wrong with deciding to take a lottery ticket for below market pay, providing you are fully well aware of what you are doing. And how this is going to go down (long days, poor work/life balance and leading up to an eventual 90%+ chance of "whoops, we're out of cash sorry").
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2019 21:13
|
|
|
Eric the Mauve posted:.8% means it's better than even money that the company will go bankrupt and OP will be out of a job within 12 months To a non-exec management employee? Probably yeah. That's senior adviser after no more than angel funding kind of equity.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2019 21:57
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 10:13 |
|
|
just_a_person posted:Just want to say thanks to everyone that is replying. This is super helpful, regardless of what advice is given so I am more aware of what's going on. Is there some good guidelines in terms of what equity an employee should look for at a startup and what burn rates one should be cautious of and what red flags to avoid? It definitely sounds like people here have much better experience in this area, and I'm going in all doughy eyed. To me, 4 years funding secured seems good, and my BATNA that allows me to not relocate and keep my same research area would be to change to a staff scientist at my university with a salary of 70-80k. From what I understand from talking to people in biotech is 3 years is the standard time to work for a start up before either leaving or the company making it, and the company does have enough money to get to 3 years already. I could change my research area/work on a different problem, which I believe would increase my salary offers, but I really enjoy what I currently do. Whatever you think you know about this startup in specificity as to their runway and burn rate is largely a fabrication that was laid out in order to lowball a salary in lieu of The kind of things you are asking for parameters on are all very well thought out, but hopelessly naive to think you would ever get that information for real. In the end, if you are in a good position of savings-to-next-job (be realistic about your prospects) to weather losing a job at any point in the near future and are willing to deal with an early startup work/life balance than GO FOR IT. This eventually made me pretty wealthy, but it took a lot of failed attempts to learn what to look for, learn how to put myself in the right positions.......and even once you've learned that you're still relying on luck to get your payout. My finally-refined in mid career methodology was to make sure I was getting paid decent cash money (salary and benefits.....could have made 30-ish percent more working for Penetrode/Comcast/Verizon/Level3) and make sure I was capable of buffering completely unpredictable job loss (I should say "loss of paycheck".....because you WILL be asked to keep working in a desperate attempt to bail out a sinking ship at least a few times if you go down this path......don't). Motronic fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Aug 23, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2019 23:00
|
|