[pandaman]

Most companies employing programmers do not want employees to know each other salary. This means that if you are an individual contributor applying to such a company then your manager is not going to know your salary at all. The salary is going to be negotiated with somebody higher up, whose reports are other managers and not ICs. I would not worry about this.

[r00fus]

Are you kidding? I would be highly surprised if a manager didn't have access to the budget impacts of his/her direct reports.

Where is this place where such info is hidden? Because I definitely don't want to work there.

[pandaman]

I've never had a salary negotiation with a future direct manager. And I've worked/interviewed in quite a few game companies as well as some non-gamie ones like Google and Microsoft.

[aeling]

I didn't interview with my current boss, but he definitely knows my total comp down to the dollar and stock/bonus/salary split - I've seen it on his screen during annual performance & bonus reviews. This is at a big 5 company.

[pandaman]

Well, it's a company, which does not care that employees know each other salary then.

[dpark]

There are very few companies that keep salaries secret from managers. My manager knows exactly how much I make and how much everyone under me makes. His manager has the same visibility a level higher. What he doesn't know is how much his peers make or how much anyone in his peers' orgs make.

Salary secrecy can't really extend to managers unless you want your managers to do a poor job rewarding people. How's it supposed to work when someone comes to their manager and asks for a raise? "I think I'm underpaid and want a 10% raise." "Well, I don't know what you or anyone else makes so I have no idea if you're underpaid. Deal with it I guess."

[pandaman]

I am not sure what are you arguing here. If you have people reporting to you then you are a manager and your manager, who manages managers might know your and your reports salaries. All I said that the first level manager, whose reports do not have reports of their own is unlikely to know anyone salary but his own.

>How's it supposed to work when someone comes to their manager and asks for a raise

Every where I worked, you (as an individual contributor)go to the higher up, who knows your salary with the recommendation from your manager, saying that you're doing excellent job or whatever.