Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mdjasper 2805 days ago
That's a great question. I haven't directly seen any other surveys performed by "the other side" so to speak. But in looking at comparative data online (https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/utah-computer-programmer-... for example), our dataset seems to show a more broad range of pay (both lower and higher).

Anecdotally, I have been told by a couple former managers something along the lines of "the highest payed engineers in Utah are in the 120k range," which this survey shows is not the case.
3 comments
suresk 2804 days ago
Reports on Glassdoor have always felt kind of on the low-end, not sure why.

> Anecdotally, I have been told by a couple former managers something along the lines of "the highest payed engineers in Utah are in the 120k range," which this survey shows is not the case.

I think part of the problem is that the range can be so huge. I've seen senior developer postings in the last year that range anywhere from $85k to $160k. I'm guessing a lot of managers have limited experience and knowledge about salaries outside of their company, rather than intentionally trying to downplay salaries.

I would personally guess that the 95% for senior/principal devs in Utah is in the $140-160k range. The only people I know above $200k would be people doing 1099 work and maybe some one-offs from stock options.

link
Spooky23 2804 days ago
People don’t understand what they make and frequently report all sorts of wacky stuff.

I worked for an org that had a fixed pay scale and read some detailed survey data that included them. The top/bottom reports were bullshit.

People will report what they think their benefits are worth, won’t know their gross salary at all somehow, will deduct alimony, add 401k interest, miscategorize themselves (ie identify as an engineer but be a director), or just make shit up.

Surveys may target wrong. Someone who is supposed to be in Utah may be in SFO or NYC.

link
Spooky23 2804 days ago
People don’t understand what they make and frequently report all sorts of wacky stuff.

I worked for an org that had a fixed pay scale and read some detailed survey data that included them. The top/bottom reports were bullshit.

People will report what they think their benefits are worth, won’t know their gross salary at all somehow, will deduct alimony, add 401k interest or just make shit up.

link