(Years ago)

Me: I just found out, "Co-worker X" is making 15% more than me, despite him being a shitty developer and putting us 2 weeks behind schedule? Not fair. I did about 70% of the work on this project. I want a raise of 30% to make me feel appreciated at least.

Boss: Well, unlike you, he's already finished college and has a degree in software engineering. It's a company thing to base salaries on educational attainment.

Me: I have two weeks left on my contract, after that I'm gone. I hope his degree will help you meet the deadline.

* Product was delivered two months late, buggy as hell and the company faced penalties and other crap.

You're never going to paid enough. The response your company provided is pretty lame. Basing pay on educational attainment is one of the remnants of the industrial revolution. Don't hold any grudges and don't lose sleep over this. Just do your work till the end of your contract and move on. It's not worth working for short sighted people. They will learn the hard way to readjust their pay system. Good luck.

@ymas That happened years ago when I was still a student. And it did piss me off at the moment.

Sadly, it is still that way over here. Working in situ instead of remotely and salaries based on degrees instead of skill are things that I hope will change in the future for IT people.

@ymas "basing payment on education attainment is one of the remnants of industrial revolution"

It happens that in these months (weeks) I have to decide if I will continue my studies after my bachelor's degree.
It also happens that the university in my city has a very awesome bachelor course but the master one is nothing special.

And I already have a kind of a job, that I will keep doing in any case (maybe even while doing another one!).

And one of the reasons that could convince me in doing 2 more years at school was exactly the fact that higher degree MAY means higher salary in future.

So I am thinking a lot about education attainment lately.
And I never thought it in the way you wrote.
Thank you.

@mngr you will get higher pay if you acquire skills that are in demand in the market. I'm constantly upgrading my skills. One of the worst things you can do as a software engineer is "get a job" as after an initial ramp up, you will pick up the habits of the organisation and become a domain expert in their ways (which could be a good thing). One of the things freelance opened up to me was the ability to work on projects from a wider variety of fields than what my previous employers offered. I'm constantly talking to stakeholders and understanding what the market needs. Learning to follow opportunities and not my passion was the toughest life lesson I had to learn, however, it has been the most useful. 2 years is a very long time and unless it's a specialization you can't pick up anywhere else then I recommend you analyze your choices *very* carefully. Good luck.

Beautiful!!

Currently dealing with this exact situation...

I don't know why I feel good reading the outcome of this.

That's why it's a bad idea to know how much you coleagues get for their job. You'll either value them less and see them below yourself or vice versa

@netikras mhe, you can already get the same feeling based on their work...

"I hope his degree will help you meet the deadline."

Okay that is legit a badass reply.

Just adding my 2 cents here...

Demand for higher education is one of those things that can vary greatly. Where I live, it is economically feasible to attain a degree.

That means that there are places that might not even look at your resume if you did not graduate from one of the top universities. The competition is a lot less fierce for CS, but still.

“I hope his degree will help you meet the deadline.”

Savage. 😎