The language itself, "should I get paid" assumes a parental allowance relationship and we should get out of the habit of using it. "Get paid" is a day-labourers colloquialism. The form of the phrase itself defines you as the passive subject.
Bill for work, draw a salary, agree to compensation, accept consideration, negotiate a package, earn bonuses, settle invoices, sell services (not time), sell equity - do not "get paid" by anyone. It's a psychological impediment that keeps people poor.
Penniless immigrants come to the US and within one (at most 2) generations become the 1% exactly because they DON'T think the way you do.
Mindset is everything.
It truly is. I may have a passion for Alizé and Cristal and to afford that passion I may want to live in a rural setting. That’s my business. Who are these people to try and tell me that whether I live in SF or Nebraska, they’re only going to let me drink André?
If an employer has nothing to do with your lifestyle choices, then they won't pay for them. For a truly remote position, they won't pay extra if you life in NY/SF vs Nebraska.
However, I think the world hasn't adapted to that market economics yet, so in this time of transition people talk about location-based pay as a stopgap measure. Software development doesn't benefit from a centralized location, so in the future developers won't naturally live in big expensive cities and employers won't pay them wages that permit them to do so.
To be honest, I think the best thing would be for SW Devs to have a guild that aids in collective bargaining. Otherwise, the power balance will gradually tilt too far towards employers. Other professional jobs (e.g. medicine, law) have similar arrangements, and that's the only reason why pay can remain high in them.
Sort of like a worker’s union?
No one making these decisions actually has this idea. It's just more acceptable PR than "we're going to lower your pay because we think you will accept it because we think that you won't or you think you won't have better options."
Should you? No. Do you have to? Yes.
If you have a family of four, a yacht and a mortgage maybe you need to make - say - $200k/y. Cool. But what about some single guy with none of those things, he can work for $100k/y and make the same profit as you.
Are you saying he shouldn't use his competitive advantage over you to get hired?
This isn't about the employer. It's about the employee, and what their life allows them to work for.
So rather than compete in the job market based on your skill set and what value they bring to a company, you should instead focus on not starting a family and living as cheaply as possible in order to make yourself attractive to companies. I'm sure employers would love for you to center your life around making yourself as cheap to hire as possible, but from the point of view of the employee it sounds extremely unhealthy.
Maybe. I got into this market because i was able to apply at a much cheaper position, beating out other more skilled employees. I levered my lower pay to offset my lack of history in the market. Were there more skilled people applying? Definitely. Did they apply at a higher rate? Definitely.
Sure if you wanted to go to extremes you should live as cheaply as possible. But you could say that about anything. Instead, live how you want to live and expect to deal with that cost of living. You said it yourself, "skill set and what value they bring". What value you bring to a company is relative to what they pay you. If you cost $500k/y but your skillset is that of a junior engineer, do you honestly think your value is the same of a similar junior engineer working for $100k/y? Unlikely.
If you want to live in a city you are simply required to make more money than someone living in a rural environment. If i have a huge mortgage i can't work at walmart. I need to make more. These are all relative values based on COL, how much you spend, etc. This shouldn't be a controversial statement, in my view.
Mind you i'm very liberal. I believe in worker rights. But forcing everyone to be paid for insanely high COL SF rates seems bonkers. Absolute bonkers.
- I have a family with children. Should I get paid more than an employee who lives alone? - I have a big house that has a large mortgage. Should I get paid more than an employee who lives in a cheap apartment? - I have purchased a yacht that requires maintenance. Should I get paid more than an employee who hasn't?
Sure, the last one is ridiculous, but honestly, they're _all_ ridiculous. The idea that your employer should be able to look at your expenses and judge which ones are valid and which ones aren't, and then adjust your pay "appropriately" is offensive on a deep level.