from Gergely Orosz | by Gergely Orosz

The 2021 Talent .io salary report is out. These reports work with the data they have, and it's clear that high-paying tech companies don't use "Europe's largest tech recruitment platform" at all, resulting in data that is off from reality. A thread on why these reports are off: t.co/eMCJhLS8dB

1. Access to data. Looking at the Amsterdam data distribution, Adyen, Booking, Uber etc all don't have their data here. They all pay €90K+ for seniors in *base salary* - we'll talk about the rest. Uber and Booking €110K & above: t.co/Xs440gkGwk

2. Total compensation vs salary. These reports focus on salary, but the highest paying companies often pay a lot more than just salary. E.g. at Uber I had years when my stock vesting that year was above my €100K+ salary. My bonus target was €22K as a senior engineer. t.co/rQsWIBYbep

3. This report confirms what I have been saying: there are ranges invisible to most recruitment companies and employees on Tier 2, and especially Tier 3 ranges: Read the full article on the trimodal nature of tech compensation: t.co/BHWctPBJLE t.co/i59PqKhFOW

4. So where do you get better data? You ask around people you know. Go on Blind (the app). Check out t.co/0Z3xSKo7e3. And I'm building t.co/Ds7Wdm4vIv that already has over 500 Netherlands/Amsterdam data points. t.co/Fn0kOWogzR

5. My next newsletter issue will be about how to find your next opportunity as a software engineer/engineering manager, including a list of (within inner circles) known companies that pay towards the top of the market. Subscribe here: t.co/SLe64y6YsX

6. To recap: These reports are good at showcasing #1 (Tier 1) compensation. They don't tell you *anything* about Tier 2 and Tier 3. Those companies use in-house recruiters and don't recruit through these platforms (or don't share their data at least). t.co/BHWctPBJLE t.co/0J9BgjqUvu

And the full survey: t.co/TX3Okw7rSA Clearly they put a lot of effort writing the survey: but be very, very, very wary on basing compensation on this. You won’t be competitive even in Tier 1 if you do. Even the Tier 1 market has moved up the past months.