I don't think it's that easy. When Person A who is living in a high-cost area asks for a raise, they will be perceived right. When Person B who is living in a low-cost area does the same, they will be perceived greedy. If the company thinks that cost-of-living has value, it will.
In my experience getting competing offers remotely is not easy, but gets easier once you landed a well paying job.
For sure. I gave the example of asking for a raise, because of the way parent comment was phrased: “If a company really likes you”. When you have competing offers, it's not a matter of liking.
Having a competing offer doesn't make your pay independent of where you live though. If enough companies make your pay a function of cost of living, you will have a tough time reaching Bay Area salaries.
> whatever the f that means in work context
Can't agree more. Having seen spectacular failures from those who are supposed to be business-minded, I've come to appreciate that humans have their biases.
In my mind it's easier getting a raise in a lower cost location. If the budget for a role is $200k for SF and $150k for Corntown Iowa, I already have $50k of wiggle room before I even hit the existing budget. But I personally just ask for the SF rate :)
As a remote engineer in the Midwest, I still make over double what local rates are, despite the remote adjustment. So it stinks but it still works for me since moving to NY or SF would be much worse (financially at least, they are lovely places)