Hey HN, I am testing a theory where I try to put a global price tag on developer skills.<p>Do you think it is possible that developers are paid more equally around the globe?<p>What if developers are being paid based on hard- and soft skills only while not considering the avg local salary payments? Imagine a developer in Finland being paid the same as one in Romania or the US.<p>What's your take on this HN?
Would you use a 'skill-appraisal' service that tries to accomplish that?
Thanks for the comments and answers. It seems that the "idea" of a more equal payment is too far away from the current reality. Hopefully, the world will change in such a way that location will not be an important factor.
What is equally, and how would this be determined?<p>A top percentile salary in Romania would likely result in not even being able to rent a microstudio or afford food in San Francisco.
<i>Do you think it is possible that developers are paid more equally around the globe?</i><p>No, I am skeptical of that. Each location has external factors such as cost of living and supply and demand that will not allow a global uniform rate to be set.<p><i>What if developers are being paid based on hard- and soft skills only while not considering the avg local salary payments?</i><p>There is more to it that strictly programming skills which are notoriously difficult to judge/measure. There are time zones and language proficiencies and cultural pressures and expectations. That is just the tip of the ice burg and assumes that a manager is even capable of managing a remote team of freelancers. In my experience very few actually are.<p>I'll give you a real personal example. We have several teams of predominantly South Asian devs who chronically and wildly over promise and under deliver. This so prevalent, I now (perhaps in a racist way) assume that this is culturally ingrained and is not malicious at all but a way to save or gain face. After years of working with these teams I know "I fixed the issue and it is impossible that something like this will happen again" does not mean to me what it does to the devs making these statements.<p>Additionally, if this was indeed the only (and somehow perfect) criteria, supply and demand would dictate that a global race to the bottom and rise in worker exploitation and nation-state gaming would occur as happened with many forms of manufacturing.<p><i>Imagine a developer in Finland being paid the same as one in Romania or the US.</i><p>If they got paid the same as a Romanian, then they would either be daft and live in poverty or be constantly looking for a job with appropriate regional pay. I don't know how Finnish pay compares to U.S. pay. I'm sure that in some regions the results would be that they were wildly overcompensated but that would be true if I paid a dev in Scranton PA the going rate for one in Palo Alto.<p><i>What's your take on this HN? Would you use a 'skill-appraisal' service that tries to accomplish that?</i><p>No, never. If I wanted to know what my going rate was I would start with Stack Overflow's survey. It seems to be in the general ballpark for the U.S. and can be negotiated from there (particularly with respect to cost of living)