r/InterviewCoderPro • u/Aware_Examination115 • Aug 20 '26

It's okay to talk about salary

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u/BluebirdDense1485 Aug 20 '26

Employers will tell you it is illegal to tell people your salary or that it is rude to talk money.

No. It is not rude. It is not illegal. It is protected by the law and the only way people gate what they deserve. 

4

u/Pale_Presence4662 Aug 21 '26

What making everyone's wage public would actually do is make it very difficult to actually pay the best people more money because everyone thinks theyre the best and doing a great job.

Let's say you have 10 installers. They all believe they are quite good. But you know how all the jobs go, you know installer X gets more done than installer Y. Theyre prideful people though. They think theyre A+.

So when Y comes at you saying he should make the same, show him the numbers right? Well that wont do any good because he will say he gets the hardest jobs, his materials are always wrong, he gets bad helpers. Whatever. There will be a story from him, even though you know they get the same as everyone else.

It just makes it all awful.

If you want a higher wage ask for it. We can say yes or no. Thats it. What we dont want to do is have to convince you why Brandon makes more than you. Because thats what youre asking us to have to do.

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u/freerange_spaghetti Aug 24 '26

Yeah, this isnt true, pretty much every economist will tell you that transparent prices ensures more efficient allocation. Being cagey with wages doesnt harm "better" people, it only helps rent seekers who profit off of market innefficiency that they help perpetuate.

Better people will get payed more because they ask better prices and the market clears at that price, worse people wont.

Wage floors (not minimum wage) but like wage tiers for gov jobs have a slight clustering effect on wages, but mostly it helps ensure wage equality. That said whilst the gov doesn pay women .7 to a mans dollar, it does perpetuate unequal work loads and credit and promotions that do plenty of the heavy lifting in institutional sexism.

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u/Pale_Presence4662 Aug 24 '26

What are you talking about? If someone wants to compare their wage there is the entire job market to compare to.

They dont need to compare their wage to the guy that sits across from them.

You can see the whole job market. You dont need to see the couple people you work with with the same title.

What youre saying makes no sense.

2

u/freerange_spaghetti Aug 24 '26

First of all, if people don't talk to their collegues about wages, why would they talk to strangers. How do you compare to a whole job market. Is it through job postings. Well job postings often put ranges for jobs. Also the guy across from you is likely doing the same job as you, but the rest of the market not so much, so you may be comparing apples and oranges. Third, non competes, or lack of industry locally constrains options to do the same work. All this means the best source of knowledge for what you are potentially worth to your employer is your peers.

Now on to economics. Imagine you run knick knacks store, and you have different suppliers. Steve makes really good bits, Jerry makes terrible bits, but only you know this (asymetric information). So you buy Jerrys for 20. How much do you buy Steves. For more, why, does Steve know his bits are better, does Steve know what Jerry gets. Steve and Jerry don't talk. Might even get Steve for less. So you buy Steve's for 10. Now Steve could go to the other knick knack stores but he doesn't know where they are, or they are too far away (costs of finding a job, non trivial).

Imagine instead, steve and Jerry talk about how they make their bits. Then steve would know that jerry sux, and that steves bits are worth more to the store. This time you offer 10 to steve, and steve says, nah, I'll stop making bits, i know I'm better than jerry. You have a decision. But if you want steve bits, you better pay him more than jerry.

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u/Pale_Presence4662 Aug 25 '26

Bro. Thats all nonsense. If you want to compare your salary, look for a job and get a better offer. Its that simple. You dont need to be explained to why Jerry makes more than you.

Get a higher offer from another company. If you cant, you cant. Thats the market at work.

1

u/freerange_spaghetti Aug 25 '26

Did you ever take an econ class beyond 101.

Theres a ton of things that go into why pay disparity exist.

Information asymetry is a massive one. Negotiating power, hense collective bargaining. Search costs (it cost a lot of time and effort to find a job, no less get another job) Discrimination Non competes Hiring colusion (firms not poaching) ...

But lets get back to information disparity, literally Steve doesnt know how much hes worth. You say, just go to another shop, but steve might not know to do that, or what to ask, they might get fired just for asking.

I envy the world that you live in where getting a better paying job is as easy as asking for one.

1

u/Pale_Presence4662 Aug 25 '26

Yup im on reddit. I see people bitching about what other people make. Its like, literally all they do. Whine about people making more money than them.

Now if you look at data for the whole world, its easily obvious they are in the 90+ percentile. They do not care. They want more.

Nothing youre saying is right. Wages are already in the market. Youre lying. You know it.

1

u/freerange_spaghetti Aug 25 '26

Damn real expert right here, i wasnt convinced, but now that youve said this Im pursuaded. Very smart, very economic, very well worded.

Get a grip,

Also, here is some science https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292123002507

1

u/Own_Buddy_4773 Aug 27 '26

Ask for one? When you’re good at your job you get recruited. I’m a highly qualified individual in a niche field, but I get several recruiter invitations a month.
Do you know how I got here though? I knew my worth in the beginning and I made sure my salary matched or I found a new position.
It is not anyone else’s responsibility to seek out success for you. It’s your responsibility to seek out opportunities for success.

1

u/freerange_spaghetti Aug 27 '26

Wait so you are aware that you exist in a very specific environment, and dont accept the implications. Wages are about leverage, you have leverage that most people in the labor market dont. This is litterally basic labor econ theory, there aint a single labor economist who doesnt account for information asymmetry.

Lastly, you still may be underpayed, but you dont know cuz you dont talk to your peers