Re: [Linux-aus] Salary Survey

[Bret Busby <bret@busby.net>]

On Sun, 12 Jun 2005, Morgan Tocker wrote:

> > What is the average earnings of people doing what I am doing?  Shit, why I
> > am I being paid 3 standard deviations below what I should be
> > paid???!one!1
>
> I think this sums it up well for me.  I had a chat to some of my peers
> at work about the Hays survey a while back.  We thought that it was
> inflated because they were trying to encourage people to jump ship and
> look for new jobs ;-)
>
> Anyhow, a while back I printed out the survey and highlighted the
> position(s) which best matched my role as I went for my review. It
> went something like "This is the role I am fulfilling.  This seems to
> be the industry rate.  I'm happy today and I like working here, but to
> stop the temptations of jumping down the track, how about we talk a
> little".
>
> I guess in truthfulness many of us don't know how much we should ask
> for because we don't know what we should be (it's hard to est. your
> own value to a company).  I'm really enthusiastic that LA can put
> together some good stats and there will be enough transparency that I
> won't be suspicious of some of the figures like in Hays.
>
> $0.02

I think that this goes to the principle embodied in my signature quote.

I had understood that the purpose of such a survey to be conducted, 
would be to provide a snapshot of people's incomes in the IT industry, 
not to provide an assessment of what people "should" be being paid.

There is also another pertinent question to be included in such a 
survey, which would have a significant bearing on the results, and that 
is, "In which state and city are you living and working (or, in which 
postcode do you do most of your work or are you employed most of the 
time)?".

> From what I understand, for example, for a number of years now, people 
who live and work in Sydney in IT, are supposed to get paid about double 
what they would get paid if they were living and working in Perth, WA, 
doing the same work and having the same qualifications and experience, 
due to a number of factors, such as the higher cost of living in Sydney, 
and the greater demand for IT professionals in Sydney. I may be wrong in 
my understanding, but it is from advice from people that I have regarded 
as reliable.

Likewise, I expect that an IT professional working in Bunbury, WA, would 
be unlikely to be being paid as much as a person doing the same work 
and having the same qualifications and experience, living and working in 
Perth, WA, for similar reasons.

Of course, also from what I understand, the location can be of less 
significance, if the employer is a large corporation or federal 
government department, where the pay rates would be independent of 
location unless working in a "remote" location (where "remote" does not 
include Perth, even though other parts of the country may regard Perth 
as being remote...).

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams,
  published by Pan Books, 1992

....................................................