mway’s blog

Money is a touchy subject.  It always has been, and it always will be.  This is the part where everyone tends to throw in the obligatory “especially in these hard economic times” line.  Before I begin, I would like to offer some advice to everyone harping on about the economy: shut up.

It’s interesting that, as a whole, we treat the recent economic situation a lot like the weather.  Everyone talks about it (ironic, but I’m getting to the point) – I can’t walk half a block in Midtown without overhearing someone warbling on about how rough things are or how there’s no money anywhere or how no one wants to hire anyone.  People: this isn’t the fucking depression.  This isn’t a third-world country where we barter with goats and small children.  In the words of our illustrious previous president, “This, uhhh, this is Americuhhh.”

Keeping both that and the fact that everyone perceives this to be such a dire time (fiscally speaking), I would offer just one suggestion to anyone looking for a job: stop asking for 6-digit salaries.  To be as vague as possible, I have seen numerous people lately with mediocre skillsets (putting it nicely) asking for ridiculous amounts of money.  Don’t get me wrong – I totally think that people should be paid what they’re worth, but honestly, honestly, you can’t walk into a company and say, “oh, yeah, I am skilled in x, y, and z, so x * y * z = 40 bajillion dollars”. It just doesn’t work like that.

Working in a field that delicately balances both massive technological expertise and creative ability (with an emphasis on the latter if you’re ever going to do anything useful with yourself), you have to have passion.  You have to absolutely and unequivocally love what you do, or you will never be more than a mediocre asset to whatever it is that you’re investing your time in.  Example: I love my job (I am fortunate) – if, hypothetically, I weren’t being paid but my bills were taken care of, I would do it anyway.  I love my work so much that I would happily do it for free if I could.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t work in the real world, but it’s the thought that counts.

Back to the point: it seems like every developer I meet has the mindset that just because they “have N years experience with PHP/Rails/whatever” that they automatically qualify for executive-level salaries.  Let me clarify: you do not.  I tend to find that anyone who asks for a ridiculous salary right off the bat is not playing with the team in mind; they are less likely to be interested in long-term committment and would probably leave at the drop of a hat if someone offered them a bit more money.  I am not interested in hiring any of those people.

It’s an unfortunate stigma that potential employees feel as though a company owes them something.  You don’t just get something unless you really, really are worth it.  I had always assumed that it was common knowledge that when you’re hired, you usually bite the bullet a bit at first, and then work your way up to where you belong.  That said, if you are unemployed or seeking a job, it’s your responsibility to prove yourself and cater to a potential employer – not the other way around.

I think it would be a fun experiment to ask someone what they think their salary ought to be right off the bat in an interview, then go through the motions and assault them with a barrage of technical questions (the idea being to knock them off of their pedestal if they’re not really worth the money), and then ask them what they think their salary should be at the end.  If someone is obviously unqualified for that pay grade, they ought to be noticeably less certain (or are just really stubborn).  Maybe I’ll give that a shot.

Morals of the story:

1. stop whining about the economy
2. stop asking for money you don’t deserve
3. don’t suck

~fin.