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Is it normal for US based companies to lowball EU based remote senior hires that much?

Just had this weird experience:

Applied to a US based company as a remote senior android dev.

Told them my rate was 55usd/hour.

Their internal recruiter who is based in Poland told me that their budget is max 45 usd/hour max for a senior role.

I was like ok maybe its worth a shot.

Passed the initial interview, did the technical interview, seemed like I did really great.

Today I receive an offer from that recruiter of 30 usd/hour. Feedback was that Im senior in some areas but in most of them Im a "really strong mid level" so they cant offer senior rate for me. Right now Im thinking of how to respond to that.

What is this? Seniors are expected to know everything 100 percent? Every senior I worked with usually specializes in 2-3 areas and looks up others as he goes. I guess shes trying to lowball me or something.

To be honest this is hilarious for me. If I wanted I could land a contracting gig with same 30usd/hour in my city 5 miles away from my home (Im based in Latvia, capital city Riga). But this is US based company so what the heck? Am I being gaslighted? Or is this rate the new normal?

Maybe Im being delusional here, should I manage my expectations or something?

Can you share your experiences with negotiating hourly rates as a senior dev and what rates you guys charge for EU/US B2B contracts?

Comments
  • 1
    Didn't you just post about this?/
  • 2
    @spongessuck the initial post was kinda a rant but this one is a question/discussion + I shared all details.
  • 6
    It's never worth lowering your salary expectations just because it's not in the budget of an employer.

    You won't get raises either, because the employer at that point knows that u can work for less.

    That's why most HRs get ghosted by candidates because the employees use one offer to get more salary from other employers.
  • 0
    @topsecret230

    Bear in mind you are applying for a full time position. When being employed, (equivalent rates, that is, salaries) are overall lower, because they are also paying for PTO, sick leaves, etc.
  • 3
    Low rates m8. In Estonia diamond tier senior Java devs go around the 200eur/hour mark . Depending on industry but its impossible to find seasoned professionals under 80 in whatever laguage ecosystem.
  • 1
    @scor yeah your opinion is worth jack shit since last time I called u out you ran away with tail tucked behind ur legs haha
  • 1
    @CoreFusionX this is a b2b position with zero benefits
  • 1
    @Avimelekh

    Holy shit. Will move to Estonia... 200 euros per hour is a fucking lot.
  • 1
    @CoreFusionX Well, Estonia is high inflation country, IT sector is rather risky, living expenses are high and competitive scene difficult. Mostly these prices take into account risk that you have 6-8 months without contract. And again this is diamond tier established engineer who has contacts and reputation in local market. As additional issue the hourly rate is mostly for risk offloaded to contractors, as company i cannot fire employees on spot (Law in Estonia regarding firing/laying off is strict) , but contractors can be slashed on a second.
  • 3
    It might be that, from their point of view, you are based in "Foreignistan" capital city of "Whocares". If you do not have the exact skill set they want, they can just look for someone else in "South Foreignia". The world is so big and exact location so meaningless that it might be worth the wait for the perfect dev.

    When they find someone who sorta matches their requirements, game theory suggest that they will low-ball the applicant discounting the value of the time that might still be wasted if they keep on searching. Because in the worst case they simply keep on searching.

    What you can do is, if you already got a satisfying job, tell them to fuck off and wait for a better offer (might even be theirs, after refurbishing).
    If you do not already have a satisfying job, accept the low-ball offer as a placeholder and start planning your next step.

    Good luck
  • 1
  • 0
    @Avimelekh 200 €/h is a lot, it would even be a lot for a senior in Switzerland.
  • 0
    @topsecret230

    does the name of that company consists of three words (and 17 letters in total)? just asking, because i faced similar situation :)
  • 0
    @i-hate-algebra nah two words. How you dealt with that situation?
  • 1
    Why do you deal with USD in the first place?

    Write them a mail where you say:

    You promised 55 €/h and later 45 €/h, not just 30 €/h. Either you pay 55 €/h or stop wasting my time with false promises.

    If they don't stick to their promises of 55 €/h, search somewhere else for a job.
  • 1
    @topsecret230

    I dealt in a similar manner that @happygimp0 described. Initially, they offered wage less than the advertised.

    I told them "no". They raised the wage to just below the official one. I still told them "no". I think that if they start to pull such things in the beginning, then it will be worse later. I still work for the old company for a quite less, but it is an easy job :) (i'm kinda tired of dealing with web and im trying to transition to devops)
  • 2
    I think i could accept that they lower it once for a little bit, if the wage is still ok. But i wouldn't accept it if they do it more than once and then i would only accept the initial higher salary.

    In other words, if they did go from 55€/h to 45€/h and you still think 45€/h is ok, you can accept it. But since they lowered it again, i wouldn't accept 30€/h nor 45€/h any more. No matter if 45€/h or 30€/h is a good or bad salary. Them trying to manipulate you or your salary is not something you should accept.
  • 0
    Is lowering the rates typical for American companies?

    Some years ago I got an offer from Adobe, they asked me to move from Germany to Poland where the salary was much lower. Of course I didn’t accept this…
  • 2
    @rudak probably a retarded recruiter. Just yesterday I was offered a position that required to relocate to Netherlands for 3 months and what they offered was even less of what I am making freelancing from in my home for an agency thats 6 miles a way from my home.

    Its hilarious. Ofc they started waving the carrot infront of me about paying for my rent for those 3 months and also being able to work fully remotely after those 3 months!

    Yeah right.
  • 0
    @topsecret230
    Oh, that's what I did now?
    Ok.
    You carry on then.
  • 0
    @scor Hahahha pety and miserable as expected. Go pet a cat and have a glass of wine :)))
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