On Becoming a VP of Engineering pt. 2
This series of blog posts have had some really great insights.  However, they’ve also left me feeling uneasy for reasons I couldn’t really put my finger on.<p>It finally clicked when I read the section justifying the company&#x27;s low compensation:<p>&gt; Industry data shows that Honeycomb is about average in this as a series D startup, not an outlier. I have friends who are line managers at larger companies who take home more than I do in my current role. To be clear, I’m not complaining — I am paid well for what I do, and I’m always, always grateful to be extremely well compensated relative to most American workers, who are well paid relative to the world median<p>It’s great that the author is satisfied with their own compensation. What bothers me is the contrast between their company’s “about average” compensation and these blog posts espousing excellence at every level the company, mentioning “inhumane” schedules in the past to deliver SOC2 and HIPAA compliance, talk of using off time to do continued industry learning, and the insinuation that the insinuation that the author and their boss are established industry thought leaders.<p>All of this talk of excellence and high performance at every level with one big exception: Compensation. Reading the section about how they have data showing their compensation is “about average” gave me flashbacks to early in my career when I was underpaid (relative to doing similar work at other companies) and yet charismatic company leaders insisted our compensation was in line with industry averages according to some data they found somewhere. It took me a while to realize the 50th percentile compensation should go along with 50th percentile expectations and 50th percentile performance. The companies who expect 95th percentile performance but give “about average” compensation and use charismatic leaders to convince everyone that it’s okay are, in my experience, not a good deal for the employee.