Frontend Lead with nine years of experience, Serhiy Babayev, raised the topic of the cost of work for lead-level specialists on LinkedIn. How much should a lead be paid? IT professionals are pondering.
Frontend Lead with nine years of experience, Serhiy Babayev, raised the topic of the cost of work for lead-level specialists on LinkedIn. How much should a lead be paid? IT professionals are pondering.
«I’m regularly invited to the position of Team Lead with a salary of $4,000. I’m a little surprised by this, but it happens so often that I feel like I’ve been greedy. Do you think this is a normal amount for a lead, or is it too little?» he asked. According to Serhiy, for this money they offer to «build a team and a technical stack from scratch.»
The community is responding to Serhiy’s question with over 80 comments under the post. So what should be the team leader’s reward?
«Looking at what’s behind that ice, I once interviewed, in the resume there are four years of experience in that ice position, and the knowledge of the June is not attractive. And there are 6-7 such candidates out of 10, if not more. Therefore, everything is relative, as for the salary in general, in one company $1500-2000 and the requirements are higher than in one that offers $4000. You have to look for your match,» analyzes Senior Wordpress/ PHP/ React/ Laravel Developer Valentyn Gorobets .
«There should be a minimum of $6,000, even if it’s 20 hours a week,» says developer Mikhail Kolomoytsev .
Recruiter Iryna Sevastyanova says that the amount indicated by the author is «a little small for a team leader, but the market has really sunk, so if you’re after money, then go to iGaming, and if you’re after something else, then, unfortunately, the options are not the same as in 2021.»
«4,000 is very little even for Ukraine,» Senior UI Engineer Yaroslav Kalyuk is convinced.
«Honestly, the situation is familiar. Unfortunately, many companies are now devaluing their employees. Over the past year, I have also been offered the position of team leader several times, and each time the requirements were unrealistically high for the announced salary. Everything would be fine if it weren’t for the amount of responsibilities for the amount allocated for a team leader. You need to be up to date with most projects (your own and others'), help juniors and mids solve complex tasks, mentor trainees and onboard new people, and also lead your own project, where you are sold as a senior. And in addition, participate in calls with potential clients, explaining why they need you at the early stage of QA. I apologize, but when to live? Being torn between a bunch of projects in one working day is the worst. I have long chosen not to work for companies, I only conduct interviews and master classes for them. But sometimes it’s interesting to answer a recruiter and see what’s currently being offered on the market (and get upset again),» said QA Team Lead Inna Dvoynikova.
Andriy Tokarchuk, AQA Lead, notes the following: «I see that specialists around me (not that you are), often take the offer of the amount somewhat personally. I personally try to perceive the labor market, to which I belong, more like the stock, car, or real estate market. There is demand and there is supply. High demand for a specialist vs. low supply = salaries are growing. This was the case in Ukraine and in the world until 2022-2023. Low demand for a specialist vs. many specialists on the market who are ready to work for less money now. It’s just the market. It doesn’t care about me or you. You can always refuse.»
More thoughts from IT people here.
