What are you seeing in terms of compensation on offer?

For those who have been looking for a new role:

What are you seeing in terms of compensation on offer?

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In India, the scenario is not very positive.

A lot of folks have been reaching out in the past months. Most are not getting good offers or in worst cases, no offer at all :frowning:

Is the feeling similar for others too? I would like to know and read the experiences of other folks…

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In terms of the compensation on offer that I take when going for a new role, it has to be higher.
In terms of compensations provided, most of them are lower.

I generally count the entire package: distance from home, parking place, flexibility of work/schedule, distance from a swimming pool, lunch options in the area, days for work from home, meal tickets, bonuses, 13th salary, company-specific benefits (like life, health, accident, travel insurances), stock, yearly compensation, training budget.
I then make a ratio with the negative ones, where the stress and work-life balance matter the most.

Generally, the compensation offered by most companies is in line with other IT roles considered easy to recruit for, especially with an increasing amount of facilities provided by the state to enable brain drain from South America or Asia (as people from Europe are more aware of the low pay and high cost of living).

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Over the last 6 months, I’ve noticed a high demand for those who upskill with the latest technologies. AI integration is a big driver, especially in QA roles. There’s a strong need for QA professionals who can automate or leverage AI in regular processes.
QA experts with experience in testing AI-driven tools are particularly are particularly in high demand. Since it’s a rare skill set, companies are offering higher pay for this experience. Sometimes its double the compensation too compared to previous pay due to high demand on resources

I’m curious if others are seeing the same trends.

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Maybe it’s because they haven’t upskilled or stayed in manual testing. Companies still need QA professionals with cross-skills, like manual testers who also have experience in performance, security, or A/B testing. If they can innovate and leverage GenAI in their testing, I bet they’ll stay competitive in the market for the next 2-3 years without a doubt.

With clients cutting costs, companies are looking for resources who can handle multiple tasks to stay competitive and win projects.

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For my current role, I had to take a massive pay cut, however I was willing as it is a great role (so far). However there has been an impact.

Considering though my previous role was at Microsoft, who pays over the average for Lead/Senior Quality Engineering roles, plus the great perks like a lease car and actual shares that make proper money, I’ve done ok.

It’s a bit of a reset, but I think a worthwhile one.

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If it is WFH then higher or similar will also work but if it is WFO or hybrid then obviously higher compensation will be preferred. Also, the position also matters, if the new role is challenging then even if more compensation is not offered then also it will be fine, when it comes challenging it means it is offering something new to learn, offering something new to work on.