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Comment by aristofun | Hacker News Reader

> Like more than 50% less salary than a male candidate was getting

I wonder how do you know how much exactly new male candidates get for same role in same companies?

A friend of mine's brother graduated the same year/cohort as I did. We graduated literally a month apart. He got the job right away at double the salary I was offered. That's how I know. We both live in the same city so his salary made it easy for him to relocate. The one that was offered to me couldn't even cover hostel expenses.

I know, this isn't an excuse. Salary doesn't matter to me as long as the job is remote or doesn't require relocation.

How do you know this is because of your sex and not just different company, different position, better interview performance?

How many other examples did you have to come to the conclusion?

I had class fellows who were really not good at coding during education. I am not saying they were not talented or in any way I was better than them. Just that during study, I saw them struggling with technical concepts and coding a lot.

They got hired within 6 months of graduation. I give it that they were living in a different city but that still doesn't explain the salary difference.

They guy I talked about earlier had almost the same grade, same interest in tech, and same graduation year as me. That's why I mentioned him and not others.

I do not have victim mentality. It is just a fact that the part of the world I live in, there is a salary disparity between the two genders. It so happened that I got a bit demotivated because of it.

I’m sorry that this is the case in your country.

I could never find myself any examples of that in software industry in few countries I worked in. It always came down to difference in companies, interview performance, or even salary negotiation tactics.

I know it's unfortunate, but I am okay with it. It is what it is. And we cannot change facts, so we accept them. It's just, I couldn't afford having those jobs and the difference rubbed it on my face. Thank you for your kind words. It means a lot.

> different city but that still doesn't explain the salary difference

You mention city a lot.

But were all those cases within the same company?

This is much more important variable than the city.

When I say city, it means one of the few cities which have like a hundred software houses (big and small) while my city has only 5 opened within last two years (didn't have a single one when I graduated). I applied to in those cities. I understand they wouldn't pay more to a resource that had to relocate. I understand that businesses like to have resources that aren't burden (hence they would prefer someone in the same city). But this doesn't account the difference. Only my skills should have mattered.

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