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How We Replaced Salary Negotiations with a Sinatra App

Konstantin Haase
June 24, 2016
3.7k

How We Replaced Salary Negotiations with a Sinatra App

Presented at RedDotRubyConf 2016 in Singapore.

Konstantin Haase

June 24, 2016
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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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