How We Replaced Salary Negotiations with a Sinatra App

Presented at RedDotRubyConf 2016 in Singapore.

Transcript

1. How we replaced Salary Negotiations
   With a Sinatra App
   Konstantin Haase
   @konstantinhaase / @rkh_popcorn
   Travis CI
   travis-ci.com
   

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3. There will be code.
   I promise.
   

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4. @jocranford
   

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9. What’s in a salary?
   

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11. $1,000,000 per episode $100,000 per episode
    10x actor?
    

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16. “Why are the best programmers
    10x more productive than
    mediocre programmers, but paid
    only 3x as much?”
    

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17. “How do bootstrapped
    companies hire talent?”
    

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19. ‣ bootstrapped
    ‣ 38 employees
    ‣ top talent
    ‣ base in Berlin, Germany
    Travis CI
    

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20. ‣ 8 countries, 16 nationalities
    ‣ 54% women (50% in engineering)
    ‣ wide range of backgrounds
    ‣ we’ll keep hiring
    Travis CI
    

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21. Salaries account for 46% of
    our spendings, making it the
    biggest cost centre.
    

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22. We don’t negotiate
    salaries.
    

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23. A Sinatra application tells us what
    to pay someone.
    

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24. Negotiation skills don’t
    reflect your value to the
    company.
    

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25. Negotiation skills
    don’t reflect your
    financial needs.
    

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26. Salary negotiations harm
    underrepresented
    groups.
    

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28. Source: Fortune Magazine
    

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29. The Travis CI Salary
    Framework™
    

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31. Developing the “Framework”
    took a full year.
    Everyone could participate.
    

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32. We pay by value.
    We pay by needs.
    We use generalised rules
    that apply to everyone.
    

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34. Value
    

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36. How do you define a 10x
    developer (if they exist)?
    

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37. Example:
    Software Engineer — Level 10
    

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38. Shows an intuitive grasp of
    situations, analytic approach
    used only in novel situations.
    

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39. Is self-motivated to the point that they
    create new work (for themselves and
    sometimes others) and has their own
    vision for what needs to be done.
    

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40. Understands business requirements.
    Does not just understand but also shape
    the big picture.
    

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41. Engineering Career Path defined
    up to level 17 at the moment.
    

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42. Employees should level up about
    once a year.
    

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43. If an employee doesn’t get a raise,
    that’s considered a bug, not a
    feature.
    

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44. Needs
    

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45. We use a generalised “needs” model
    based on location.
    

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47. www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index
    

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49. numbeo.com
    

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50. rkh.im/move (outdated, does not work properly for Singapore)
    

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52. glassdoor.com
    

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53. payscale.com
    

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55. Only compare data points from the
    same source.
    

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61. Country base line based on how market rates*
    compare to Berlin.
    City adjustments based on how the living costs
    compared to national average.
    Income tax estimation is added on top.
    * Factor adjusted upwards for low income countries, for city states Consumer Prices and Rent Index will be used if higher
    

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63. Rates calculated for 3563 cities
    in 209 countries
    Four countries also have 92 regions.
    

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64. youtube.com/user/CGPGrey
    

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66. Currencies are tricky.
    

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69. © Lincoln Stoll
    

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70. What’s important:
    Competitive, Comfortable,
    Fair, Feasible, Prospective
    

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71. Everyone can participate in the
    salary discussion.
    

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72. Thank you!
    Konstantin Haase
    @konstantinhaase / @rkh_popcorn
    Travis CI
    travis-ci.com
    

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