[criddell]

Market value?

There are lots of software development jobs that can be done remotely. A person living in San Francisco that wants $75,000 / year is competing with excellent developers from other countries with a cost of living an order of magnitude less. Get used to it. I don't think global competitive pressures are going to ease.

[iolothebard]

They tried that for 20 years, it never works (having been in Fortune 500 companies as a consultant, it's a fucking train wreck). By the time you handle all the layers, the different time zones, the different cultures, the different values/ethics, etc. It's not even a wash. Which is why H1b is so "needed". When they're on site, it's easier to get the work done.

[criddell]

We've had pretty good success with particular types of jobs.

Jobs like porting from one framework or language to another usually succeed because the original software acts as a complete specification.

Where I'm working now, we've spent quite a bit of time changing our processes to be more remote-friendly and it has been well worth it (we were inspired by Jason Fried a great deal).

[yeureka]

Market value takes into account all the dimensions of the job, including location and whether you need to be in the office or not.

The article doesn't mention price pressure from outsourcing, that is another issue.

What I am trying to say is that we shouldn't accept a salary bellow the average of what other people in the same situation are payed because that will hurt you and everybody else by bringing down the average.

[criddell]

> other people in the same situation

Not sure I agree with you, but "same situation" has to include developer productivity. The nature of averages means that 50% of the developer population should be paid no more than average.

But are you really that motivated by money? Have you never contributed to an open source project because you enjoy the work or want to contribute?