More Follow-Up on the Tech Hiring Market
Off-cycle compensation increases, a data engineer shortage and low-cost regions becoming too expensive.
👋 This is Gergely with a bonus issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter. In every issue, I cover challenges at big tech and high-growth startups through the lens of engineering managers and senior engineers.
This issue is a follow-up to my two September coverage about the insane tech hiring market:
Much of the market movement is in line with what was predicted in those pieces.
The market for tech professionals with experience - and especially software engineers - continues to be on fire. This newsletter issue is especially relevant for hiring managers, and those budgeting for next year.
This issue covers:
Compensation increases done off-cycle with over 30 data points from various companies.
🔒 A data engineer shortage, how companies are responding to this, and the opportunities this opens for engineers.
🔒 Facebook’s hiring crisis, and how this will impact the tech market.
🔒 Remote work options are starting to dominate job postings.
🔒 Low-cost regions: are they becoming too expensive?
🔒 Advice to hiring managers on tackling all the above challenges.
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Off-cycle compensation adjustments at companies
I wrote the article The Perfect Storm Causing an Insane Tech Hiring Market in September, when I suggested lobbying for one-off compensation increases to get ahead of attrition, responding to this major market shift:
“Lobby for out-of-cycle increases and spot bonuses. Most nimble companies are giving raises to all their staff. You’ll need to do it at the beginning of the year anyway, but if you wait until then, you will have lost people who would have stayed otherwise. Assume the compensation data you buy is outdated and that the market could be up 15-30% on last year”
The data is now in: many companies have, indeed taken this drastic step to adjust compensation early. I talked with more than two dozen hiring managers and employees at different companies across the globe who have all done off-cycle adjustments. Data points: