Compensation & Benefits

Strategies You can Use to Convince Your Leadership about Promotion and Salary Upgrades

The author faced two challenges in their company: managing eighteen direct reports and working for founders who were not open to spending for salaries. To resolve these issues, the author conducted weekly one-on-ones with their direct reports, identified two engineers as team leaders, and consulted with a 3rd party HR company to come up with a pay scale structure. The key lesson learned was the importance of educating founders on fair compensation and pursuing this cause even if there was push back.

Turning a team around

When taking over a team of 60 engineers, the VP of Engineering noticed a lack of motivation and excellence. After observing interactions and having one-on-one conversations, it was determined that external factors such as a lack of purpose, goals, and challenges were causing the problem. To address this, modern tools were implemented, hiring practices were strengthened, job bands and compensation ranges were established, teams were reorganized, and the strongest people were put into influential positions. As a result, motivation and efficiency increased, and the team was better differentiated. Lessons learned include building relationships, ensuring a sense of purpose, challenging the team, and maximizing talent.

I managed to convince top notch engineers to accept my offer

In a tricky negotiation to hire three rockstar engineers from a failed start-up, the negotiator leveraged different aspects to convince them to accept the offer. These included emphasizing the challenging role and professional growth, showing that the stock value would be higher, putting them in contact with people who had faced a similar situation, and looking for positions for their significant others. The negotiation was successful, and the negotiator learned the importance of listening to the person's concerns and finding ways to show that the company cares about their wellbeing.

Discussing Pay Compensation

This article discusses how to approach a conversation about earning more money. It suggests researching the company's compensation authority, providing a list of accomplishments, and comparing market salaries to demonstrate why a raise is deserved. It also suggests being honest about other offers and emphasizing the value of staying with the current company. The article emphasizes the importance of making noise and letting the manager know that compensation is important.

How to manage the ego of a rockstar developer

A rockstar developer was exhibiting negative behavior in the team, such as not listening to other team members and being aggressive when defending his point of view. After investigating the root cause of his behavior, it was discovered that he felt unappreciated and needed to show everyone that he was the smartest person in the room. The manager took action by having a difficult conversation with him, praising him publicly and privately, and pushing for a reevaluation of his compensation. This simple solution was highly effective in fixing the problem.

Sourcing Interested Candidates in QA

This article discusses how to identify candidates who are truly interested in a QA career. The author suggests posing an interview question that requires the candidate to think about how an architecture will break, and looking for a system level thinker who can think at the component level and introduce chaos into the system. Additionally, the author suggests leveling all QA engineers at the same level and salary range as software engineers, and creating a company culture that supports QA career growth.