TechPays Acquired by Levels.fyi: A New Era for Tech Salary Transparency

Introduction to TechPays and Pay Transparency

Pay transparency has long been an issue in the tech industry, particularly in Europe. The lack of reliable data on tech salaries has led to a culture of unclear expectations and potentially unfair compensation. To address this, TechPays was created to provide a platform for tech professionals to share and access information on salaries. The site was founded by The Pragmatic Engineer, in collaboration with Zsombor Erdődy-Nagy, with the goal of promoting pay transparency in the tech industry.

The Problem of Hidden Salary Tiers

The idea for TechPays stemmed from a personal experience of the founder, who discovered that their compensation could be significantly higher than they initially thought. While working as a principal engineer at Skyscanner in London, the founder was earning £93K, which was considered to be in the higher bracket of tech salaries. However, after receiving an offer from Uber in Amsterdam that effectively doubled their compensation, it became clear that there were 'hidden' tiers of compensation that were not widely known.

This experience highlighted the need for better compensation information, as many software engineers were hesitant to consider new opportunities due to misconceptions about their market value. The founder saw firsthand how a lack of good compensation data can work against developers and decided to take action.

The Birth of TechPays

TechPays was created to 'open source' compensation data points, allowing tech professionals to anonymously share their salary information. The site was designed to support compensation anonymization, capture freelancer compensation, and break down how compensation packages were put together. The goal was to provide a reliable source of information that could help tech professionals negotiate better compensation packages.

The Acquisition by Levels.fyi

After several years of operating as a side project, TechPays has been acquired by Levels.fyi. Levels.fyi is a global pay transparency platform that shares the same drive to make compensation as transparent as possible across the tech industry. The acquisition will enable TechPays to continue operating and providing valuable data to its users, while also integrating its learnings about European compensation packages into Levels.fyi's global platform.

What This Means for Users

For users of TechPays, there will be no changes to the site's functionality. They will still be able to browse the data and access information on tech salaries. Additionally, they can expect even more high-quality data points on Levels.fyi, covering not only Europe but also global compensation trends.

Conclusion

The acquisition of TechPays by Levels.fyi marks a new era for tech salary transparency. By combining their efforts, these two platforms can provide a more comprehensive and reliable source of information for tech professionals. As the tech industry continues to evolve, it's essential that pay transparency keeps pace, ensuring that developers and engineers are fairly compensated for their work.

To learn more about compensation trends and insights, check out Levels.fyi and subscribe to The Pragmatic Engineer's weekly newsletter, which covers a wide range of topics related to software engineering and the tech industry.