Comment by ryandrake | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ryandrake | Hacker News Reader

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> I fail to see any connection with engineers which can easily move between jobs, command decent salaries and benefits and are more than able to negotiate better conditons individually with their employers.

Easily move between jobs:

Only true currently, and only if you're in certain metro areas. Are we forgetting 2007-2010? or 2001-2004? There are likely more down years than up, but I've only been in the workplace since the mid nineties.

Command decent salaries and benefits:

Decent compared to the median nationwide salary, sure, but decent compared the value brought to the companies? Hypothetical example: Who's more "decently" paid? The $15/hr fast food employee who delivers $30/hr in value to their company, or the $150K software engineer who delivers $2MM in value to their company?

More able to negotiate better conditions individually with their employers:

On what planet? Go ask your employer for time-and-a-half overtime pay and let me know if they only laugh for a few seconds or a whole minute. See if Legal is willing to make an exception to their mandatory IP assignment or binding arbitration clauses just for you.

"The $15/hr fast food employee who delivers $30/hr in value to their company, or the $150K software engineer who delivers $2MM in value to their company?"

As a consultant I can actually measure the direct amount of money I bring in. I often wonder if I'm only worth the 10% I get of that money or I can do better elsewhere?

If you worked for yourself, you'd be able to make 10 times as much?

The product I work with is making significant gains in the market now. The demand seems to be growing, judging by the new clients I see at work and recruiters that contact me after hours. I know the supply/demand is in favor of the applicants because it's a highly customized software and we were a tiny startup before being acquired by a tech giant. Not very many people have actual real world experience. I know a handful of ex-employees that want to start a consulting group but we are all really technical. We have people skills from being customer facing consultants but I really need a project manager / business person that can cut the deals.

I think their is a premium associated with the company's brand that allows them to charge more but I could probably charge 2/3 of their hourly rate. That would probably give me about 3x-4x my yearly salary now based on an estimate of not actually averaging 30 hours per week for 40 weeks out the year. I have no idea if those numbers make sense though.

Now that also means I take on the risk of finding and keeping clients, no paid healthcare or other benefits. I understand those things come out of my hourly rate at a company but it still doesn't to be a "fair" split to me. Especially when sites like glassdoor report much much higher salaries for people in my company, in my city, with my job title.

I'm already working with some 3rd party recruiters on contract gigs with government and quasi-government companies. The offers I have seen so far are 3x my current pay with a full benefits package. I'm trying to weigh the need for stability though as I have a significant debt to pay off and a child on the way. These offers also have paid overtime. I am figuring unpaid overtime and travel into my hourly rate because it's important to me. I used to include commute time but I work from home now.

Although I asked for a raise and got nothing. Either my skills aren't as valuable as I think or I suck at negotiating. I turned in my resignation once and was offered a much better salary. Leading me to believe I am valuable in someway to this company. I'm pretty confident they would offer a match again (or at least a decent increase) if I were to leave again but I don't know if I want to keep playing that game. I've been in the industry for 10 years. I'm pretty sure I'm underpaid. In the industry for 10 years. Revenue numbers to prove my worth company. I would think that I could cross into the 6 digit range soon but maybe I'm crazy. I'm not even close to the 150k number thrown out by the comment I quoted.

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