"It's so hard finding qualified engineers." This is true, as I've hired before. But then you get *this* nonsense, too. In my inbox: Embedded engineer JD. a *full page* of requirements, including very specific SLA's *in* the job description. Let me quote it so that you can tell I'm not making this up: "Reporting directly to the Executive Director of <redacted>, you will play a crucial role in our <redacted> facility" -- *very* senior role "Establish an efficient incident response protocol complete with on-call escalation procedures to mitigate system failures within the first month, aimed at minimizing downtime and expediting recovery." "Achieve 95% uptime for the <redacted> within the first X months, and maintain 99% uptime after the first X months" Just to be clear, this is not at all an unfair ask for a very, very senior engineer. They're looking for one who knows both hardware *and* software, capable of independently determining requirements and then executing on them, at both an implementation in-the-weeds level and a high level "visionary" level. Fair. Then you read the last part of the JD: "Compensation: Will be at the 85 percentile - some bonus and possibly equity" "some bonus" "possibly equity" "85 percentile" <picture me falling out of my chair, rolling on the ground with a belly laugh> Here's the deal folks: if you want to hire someone like me to do a job like this, "possibly" equity isn't going to cut it. You're looking to hire someone that's going to substantially implement and drive your business forward, at an incredibly high level. The possibility of equity isn't even on the table -- it's just a question of how much of your company you're looking to part with. Especially when you're paying at the "B" level already. I usually just ignore these incredibly ill thought out reach outs, but recently I've gotten some *winners* come across, and this one is just too good not to share. This job description reads to me like "director level individual contributor they want to pay mid-senior level IC money to". News Flash: if you want to hire someone that can functionally make or break your business, you should be paying them near what you think a high level exec is going to be making, because that's how important they are to your business. The hiring market is slowly picking back up, but it seems that most of the companies out there are really interested in low-balling folks right now. Understand what you're worth and laugh in their faces until you get it.
Some time ago, this might have been the case, but now, after multiple waves of layoffs and the massive influx of literally millions of engineers during the free-money party by the FED, oversupply and oversaturation of engineers/developers/technicians have become the norm in both the hardware and software job markets. Just take a look at any internet job site you want, not just LinkedIn; for decent IT jobs, it's typical to see hundreds or even thousands of applicants within just a few days. This is something we haven't seen since the dot-com bubble burst. I'm afraid that the next logical step could be a significant reduction in salaries for most IT roles.
How do you pay bills while you wait out the market? Very few people can do this sort of thing.
A ton of staffing firms, on behalf of cheap clients, are offering rates last seen five to fifteen years ago for tech jobs. The same entities then complain that they cannot find qualified (citizen) candidates. There has never been an easier time to find a highly qualified software / BI / data engineer in tech — if a competitive rate is offered. Especially at the senior level, a huge portion will simply wait out poor market conditions until a truly competitive opportunity does arise. Even for those taking lower rates, the better ones will mostly quickly leave for something offering superior compensation — or at least search immediately upon starting.
Ron Thompson says "...it seems that most of the companies out there are really interested in low-balling folks right now." Here are two data points: 1. From a DM to me a couple of days ago: Senior Developer to their development team in ......, AZ. Tech Stack: C#, .NET, JavaScript, SQL. Compensation: $80,000 - $100,000 base + benefits 2. Current posting on Indeed (Oct 18, 2023) Principal / Software Engineer (Top Secret) - ....., AZ - $73,400 - $110,000 a year I was earning that type of money last century.
The software industry is full of bs'ers trying to take advantage of devs, the one advice I'd give to younger devs is don't be afraid to say no early and often, know your worth and push for it when applying to jobs, you'll get all kinds of people trying to talk you into bad situations with allusions to things that will never materialize
I get a lot of these. Companies that essentially want to hire a miracle worker but aren’t willing to pay even close to what would be required.
They are looking to capitalize off of desperate workers to low-ball them, but will be astonished when those same people leave in a few months if the market picks up
Ah yes, the 'ole "Major League talent for Bush League pay" hunting ground where they're hoping to capture the desperate unicorn. People remember that, though, and if that person is hired, they're also going to keep looking and jet as soon as they find something that meets their requirements.
Grug Brained Principal Engineer
10moyeah... "It's so hard finding qualified engineers." is a guaranteed "we don't pay well" red flag. And the most face-palmy thing about it all is that a lot of companies in this position refuse to acknowledge that they are paying below the market even when presented with evidence because they have some kind of mental block where they refuse to admit the true earning potential of engineers.