We'd like to believe that we live in a rational, structured world where we get a fair pay for good work. While on the surface it seems reasonable, in the bigger picture it's not the case at all. There's no such thing as "fair salary", because there's no objective "value" of our work.

Even if we do the same work - write code for an app - our salary will mostly depend on the seemingly irrelevant logistics. Are we hired in-house, or a contractor? In-house in the country where the company has the HQ, or one of the offshore dev centers? Contractor working for a software house, or solo? Did you sign the contract yourself, or is a middle-man involved? Is it a long-term or short-term contract?

But the job is exactly the same - build the app. How we can talk about a "fair salary" in this case? Maybe we should optimise for the biggest one? In that case, we'd be hustling to find short-term contracts for work that needs to be done ASAP for a dysfunctional company that's long behind their schedule. Doesn't really come together as a dream job advertisement, does it?

So, the first step is to pick the game you want to play.

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Have a good one,

Wojciech

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PS. I have lovingly crafted this email using only the best artisanal keystrokes. If you find come across any typos, feel free to fix them yourself and enjoy this new, unique, kintsugi version.