All profit is based on exploitation. Surplus value is extracted in absolute and relative terms. Absolute surplus value is increasing the amount of time worked per worker. Relative surplus value is extracted by reducing wages or increasing productivity and intensity.

With that orientation explicitly stated, I work in tech and I find discussing salary extremely difficult. Recruiters and hiring managers ask: "What is your salary expectation?" I have no idea how to respond and because I am desperate for a job, respond with what my friends later tell me is "a low ball". It is a wild wild west, with ignorant HR people looking for buzzwords, unrealistic tech stacks, and a lot of bait and switch.

How to approach salary questions? Should I give them a number first? My neoliberal friends tell me "how much value you think you generate", and I respond "enough so I don't have to work anymore".

  • GrouchoMarxist [comrade/them,use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Yeah it varies a lot, Glassdoor is good if you can find things specific to a company you're interviewing with. Like if you're lucky a few former full stack devs will have left reviews and if they were making 120k then you shouldn't start off at the 72k level. Dev pay is harder to nail down though, there's a lot of variables in those salaries

    • AutonomistMarxist [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      A couple of other websites I have found useful is h1b salary database. companies have to disclose what they paid for h1b roles https://h1bdata.info/ . Another interesting website, Blind, allows anonymous gossip for tech companies. you can only register if you have a verified corporate email account: https://www.teamblind.com/