We got a great response to the initial publication of our salary calculator in July – over 100,000 people tried it out just in the first few days. Today we shipped an update to the calculator, which includes: International salaries Two new positions: Creative Director and Data Scientist 2016 market adjustment Skills now have a…

We got a great response to the initial publication of our salary calculator in July – over 100,000 people tried it out just in the first few days.

Today we shipped an update to the calculator, which includes:

International salaries

Two new positions: Creative Director and Data Scientist

2016 market adjustment

Skills now have a resolution of 0.5 (previously whole integer)

Setting the US market salaries

Our base salaries are updated once a year based on the best available information “market” rates. Sources we look at:

Industry reports. We purchase salary data from a third-party, aggregated by job title. This gives us rough data for e.g. Software Engineers or Graphic Designers (though it isn’t specific to startups).

We purchase salary data from a third-party, aggregated by job title. This gives us rough data for e.g. Software Engineers or Graphic Designers (though it isn’t specific to startups). VC surveys. All of our main VCs do yearly compensation surveys (which we participate in) and then share the aggregated data with us. This is our best survey data because it’s more specific to startups, though the sample size is smaller.

All of our main VCs do yearly compensation surveys (which we participate in) and then share the aggregated data with us. This is our best survey data because it’s more specific to startups, though the sample size is smaller. Competing offers. For anyone hired in the previous year, we take into consideration any competing offers they received that they’re willing to share.

Setting the international salaries (new!)

As of 2016, we also benchmark international salaries.

Our People Team (which I lead) researches and establishes a base salary in the local currency for each country in which we have a presence. This salary is determined the same way we do it currently in the US – by researching the appropriate market rate for the country. We anchor it at skill level 1 and 4 years of professional experience.

We recognize that some countries have market salaries that are lower than the US – therefore when determining the local salary, we not only look at the local market, but also the “remote developer market” rate, i.e. the salary you would get if you were paid by a US company in USD.

The international salaries are updated yearly. If we hire someone in a new country mid-year, we’ll research and establish the base salary then.

Looking to work internationally? Stack Overflow Jobs has postings for developers in London, Amsterdam, Singapore, and more.