Compensation
Chris Yu
Here’s a collection of resources to help you set expectations to what compensation you think is fair relative to your experience.
Crowdsourced compensation details
Take these data points with a grain of salt since no one is validating their authenticity or accuracy. However it should give you rough ranges dependent on your experience and your target level.
levels.fyi — database of crowdsourced compensation from large companies. Great for understanding pay bands and levels at enterprise companies
salary.design — an updated database of salaries from the DesignX community
Top startups salary and equity database — crowdsourced compensation packages at startups
Glassdoor — sometimes has compensation details, but it’s better for understanding culture and what disgruntled employees have to say about the company
Communities
linkedin — a great place to connect with other professionals, especially those of companies you’re interested in. Don’t wait till you need a job to build a relationship (people don’t respond well to strangers asking for handouts or favors).
teamblind — an anonymous community that allows you to ask candid questions about companies. Sometimes people are willing to give out referrals as well, if you ask nicely. Beware that the overall community is quite toxic, as there are many disgruntled workers there.
fishbowlapp — this is more for consultants, but they operate similarly to Blind, except it’s not anonymous, so there’s a bit more decorum and posturing.
Market Reports
Every year a slew of companies will create market reports of compensation based on region, position, and level.
carta - startup compensation (h1 2023) — a report from Carta (equity management company) of the state of compensation within startups
comparably — a website that will force you to make an account, but then provide you will some market ranges
invisionapp - 2021 design leadership salary report — The design leadership forum used to be a great place to share compensation amongst design leaders and design professionals, before inVision shut down.
roberthalf — RH’s creative arm “The Creative Group” releases annual reports based on rates they have with clients
vitamintalent — VitaminT like RH, and most other staffing agencies will release salary reports annually