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The lowest possible value is now 50K. There are countries (like the Netherlands) where this is very high (for comparison: I'm on the high end of middle class and I make <30k a year pre-tax). There should at least be options for 40k 30k and 20k, maybe even 15k.

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    As it is now, the filter is unusable for me, because no company in the Netherlands is going to pay me 50k a year. Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 9:15
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    £50k in the UK is very high! Even converting this from $50k works out at probably a senior dev level. I'd say a starting salary of a Junior dev with little experience would be minimum of the £20K level. Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 10:13
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    TBH, I'm really starting to feel like "Jobs" is not targetted at me or people like me. The salaries are (mostly) un-realistic for my locallity and the jobs are totally centred around larget metropolitan areas such as London or Manchester (UK). I have never seen a job that I want to apply for, yet there are obviously jobs in my area. Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 11:09
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    Is there a reason that isn't just a text box? Senior developers in NYC/SF will have the opposite problem (although, again, maybe they're just not the target market). Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 4:06
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    @Liam I thought that initially, but after playing with the filters a little, I found the ad for my actualy job, at my company (the company was expanding the team; this wasn't their elaborate way of firing me). So, I guess you could argue that job is a perfect fit given that it's the one I'm currently doing. For reference, this is in Nottingham, UK, which is technically a city, but not exactly large or metropolitan; one of my colleagues at this job lived on a farm. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:18
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    When Jobs was introduced I was amazed by the salary numbers. I closed the tab with the observation that Jobs is very American focused and therefore not something I could/would use (I'm from the Netherlands too).It gave me the feeling that 'Jobs' is actually for the United States. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:32
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    Stack Overflow is IT-specific, and 50K isn't that high for developers in the Netherlands. With 8% holiday allowance, it translates to 3800/month. The normal rate is 4000-5000/month (52-65K/year). <30K annually is <2300/month. That is not the high end of middle class in the Netherlands, Center middle class ("modaal inkomen") is >36K. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:34
  • @Mixxiphoid There are plenty of jobs in the Netherlands listed in Jobs, you just can't find them when the salary filter is turned on. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:36
  • @Kevin, sure but my point remains, I think it is still very American focused. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:39
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    @MSalters My boss makes less than 3800 a month, 4-5k is definitely not the going rate for a developer in the Netherlands. Regardless, it's irrelevant to my problem. Sure there are companies that are willing to pay 50k+ for a dev, but that dev is not me. There are also jobs listed in Jobs that are relevant to me, but they pay a lot less, so I can't use the filter to find them. As of now, for someone in my situation, the filter is completely useless and even makes it harder to use Jobs. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:51
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    Just to show how ridiculous 50k is: searching for all jobs in the Netherlands gives 10 pages of results, adding the filter at 50k gives 3 pages of results. A filter set to it's lowest possible value should not filter out 70% of all results. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 10:56
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    I've just dpon the same for the UK, totaly blank search returns 1,877 jobs, with the 50K filter set that's goes down to 260!! Thats about 87% of the jobs falling under the minimum wage in the filter! Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:03
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    @Kevin: Did you check what you're missing? Many posts do not state a minimum, so your filter throws them out directly. (treats them as 0k). The absolute lowest stated minimum I found was 35K, which is in fact an example of a company which I think deserves to be excluded. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:15
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    So far, it looks like there is no good reason not to add a couple of extra options. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:18
  • Thanks for the note! You make a good point; currently discussing this with the team. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 15:57

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We're working on an update that'll allow you input a custom value. This is going through QA now, but you should see it live soon.

Thanks all for the feedback!

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A competitor (in the UK) that only advertised IT jobs starts at £10K (seems a little low to me, I'm not even sure this meets minium wage requirments?)

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I'd say this should be moved to £/$/€20K as a minimum. Unless you only plan on advertising mid-to-high end jobs?

Outside of London (which is a special case) I'd be surprised to see anything but a very senior job over £50K. Basically as it stands this filter is unusable for me.

I've just done some experimentation for a blank UK search there are 1,877 jobs (BTW this isn't very many, a close IT compeitor in this country reckons it has 9,700 current jobs): enter image description here

add just the 50K filter and this drops to 260!

enter image description here

So 87% of the UK jobs fall outside of the minimum wage of the filter!

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  • Something like that, yeah. If a 23 year old (first year you get an adult salary) in the Netherlands works minimum wage, 40 hours a week, they get about 18k a year pre-tax. I find it hard to imagine a developer would work minimum wage though, so 20k would be fine for the Netherlands, but I'm not sure about other countries. Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 10:54
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    why the minus ones? I don't understand people reluctance for this? It seems perfectly practical to me Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 11:00
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    Just a note I'm an apprentice software developer in the UK and I earn somewhere between 10-15k per year so that is probably why the 10k limit is on there Commented Nov 3, 2016 at 16:25
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    It's possible that a job could be part time, though I've never seen a dev role like that. But that could potentially be quite low paid. Commented Nov 3, 2016 at 16:41
  • I earn just above the minimum wage in the UK for a 18-20 year old, and my salary is just a little over 10K. So if you're less than 21 years old, 10K is certainly possible in the UK. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 11:17
  • "87% of the UK jobs fall outside of the minimum wage of the filter": That's not quite accurate. Jobs for which the salary is not indicated are always filtered out of searches with a minimum salary filter. 33% of jobs with a salary and visible from the UK are <£50K. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 14:50
  • I'd argue that that isn't clear either then!! If I was looking for a job of above x salary and I set the filter I would potentially miss out on a large number of jobs? Some of which may well be wiling to pay my (exobertant) salary?! Shouldn't there be an option (along the lines of) "Include jobs without a salary specified"? Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 15:10
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    @Liam I cannot promise anything just yet, but we are discussing potential changes internally. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 15:17
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I disagree. The job market for developers in the Netherlands has been improving, so these 2014 figures are outdated. Still, we see that about 55% of respondents makes over 40K.

That study is likely biased towards younger developers, given its source. This is reinforced by reports of below-minimum wage incomes, which implies internships.

But even if the figures were real, it's questionable whether we even want companies who pay (significantly) below market. If a Dutch company can't afford to pay 50K+benefits, StackOverflow might not be the right place to look for new employees.

[edit] It seems that there's some disagreement about this. The Dutch labor market for developers is highly favorable to them - demand is quite high, supply is low. Sure, there are quite a few companies who are unhappy with this, and would prefer to pay less. That is why they're advertising! They've got open positions precisely because they lose developers to better-paying companies. The current advertisers are not a representative sample.

(For non-Dutch, renting an apartment in Amsterdam would cost about 1500/month. Buying one can easily set you back 200K-250K; you'd need to earn 50K-62K just to get a mortgage. )

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  • Height of salary is largely determined by education level, and someone with an MBO education simply doesn't qualify for 50K+ a year unless they have years of experience. It's easier to find a job with an MBO degree though, so a lot of developers don't want to go a step higher and get their HBO degree. I don't see how Amsterdam appartement costs are relevant, the Netherlands is a lot bigger than just Amsterdam. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 11:22
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    The discussion is not "What's an adequate salary for a developer?", but "The filter does not allow to select lower salaries". Adding a simple less than 50k option would probably take far less time than this discussion has already taken. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 11:50
  • @ChatterOne: That would be fairly pointless filter? You could simply leave out a minimum salary when searching. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:01
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    @Kevin: Surprising conclusion, the common theme I've heard was that a developer with MBO only would find it very hard to get a job. In fact, at my previous 2 employers we'd look for HBO as a minimum. (At my current employer the minimum qualification is a M.Sc. but we're specialists). I mentioned Amsterdam as a reference for the non-Dutch. Assen of course is cheaper. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:08
  • Maybe I worded it wrongly. I meant someone with an MBO degree can always apply for an HBO job and try to convince them by showing off some hobby projects. Their reason to want HBO = more skills. A company looking for an MBO graduate will never invite someone with an HBO degree, because the reason they want MBO = cheap employee. Therefore, when you have done only MBO there's a generally higher chance to land a job because there are more choices, not because a company is more likely to hire you over someone with an HBO degree. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:15
  • What about developers that don't live in Amsterdam? Amsterdam is, I would image, the most expensive place to live in Holland. Does that mean this is only for people who live in the capitals of their country? For example, I don't live in London, if I lived in London I would expect my salary to go up significantly. Everything (and I mean everything) is signficantly cheaper where I live, so wages are obviously lower Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 12:17
  • @Liam: Like London, Amsterdam has pretty much merged with adjacent cities. The difference is that this larger region isn't legally recognized, but it has an informal name ("Randstad", literally " Edge city"). About 60% of the Dutch live in the Randstad (about 10M). There's only one other area with a significant population (Eindhoven area, 0.6M), and that is hardly any cheaper. I.e. I know someone who paid over 400K for an old house there; after renovation it's close to 500K. Yes, rural areas exist and are cheaper, but that's where farmers live and work - not developers. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 13:46
  • I live in the 'Randstad' and the rent for my home is far less than half of the illustrated rent in Amsterdam. A lot of families have both of the partners working to cover the mortgage plus additional expenses. So that doesn't mean only one of both would need to make 50k a year. Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 14:51
  • That sounds like a very dutch thing then. The population of london is around 8Million, the UK has a total population of 64 million, so london is 12% of the UK. But the house prices and cost of living is easily 3 times that of the rest of the country. My house cost around £200k. The same house in central london would be millions! I was I suppose equating Amsterdam/Holland to London/UK, which is obviously flawed Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 15:17

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