Salary Guides

The Importance Of Personality In Hiring Good Engineers

The author was an Engineering Manager at Saama Technologies in 2013 and was under pressure to hire 11 engineers quickly. He interviewed 600 candidates and shortlisted a few, taking into account their personalities and communication skills, as well as their technical abilities. He then worked with his management to create a special budget for salaries and bonuses, and continued to talk to the candidates until they joined the company. The team was a success and the author learned that it is important to never take shortcuts when it comes to hiring, and to consider the environment, culture, and personalities of the company and team when selecting a candidate.

Establishing a New Function

Niche's QA team was struggling to keep up with their increased automation needs, so the QA team leader proposed a new departmental structure with a separate function for automation. This new role, the Software Engineer in Test, would be dedicated to automation, allowing the QA Analysts to focus on manual testing. After a year of refining the role, the team was able to hire additional Software Engineers in Test and begin revitalizing their automation efforts. The lessons learned from this experience included the value of specialization, the importance of face-to-face communication while vetting candidates, and the importance of trusting in the expertise of team members.

Embedding Company Values To Build a Well-Structured Career Ladder

This article outlines the steps taken to create a clearly defined career path for engineers, including separating paths for individual contributors and managers, defining core values and expectations for each position level, and providing employees with a self-assessment document. The article also highlights the importance of defining values and providing day-to-day examples to illustrate them, as well as the importance of including both quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure performance.

Why I Made My Company’s Compensation More Structured

Pilot has implemented a new compensation process that eliminates negotiation components and rewards employees based on their skills. The company has also taken steps to ensure that employees are not discriminated against based on their location, by benchmarking salaries to the most expensive country they are comfortable hiring in. The key lesson learned is to focus on creating a fair compensation scheme that does not rely on negotiation skills.

Go beyond salary to build up a complete job offer that candidates won’t decline

This article provides advice on how to handle salary negotiations. It suggests paying a fair wage based on experience, title, company stage, country, and city. It also suggests taking the time to understand what motivates the candidate and what they are looking for in a job, and then building an offer that includes a fair salary, equity, career opportunities, and learning opportunities. The article emphasizes that people should not be hired for cash, as they will likely leave soon after.

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.