They have ruined one of the coolest companies in the country

Update: Since I posted this, the company has since revised the article I refer to here. The article is now more transparent and reflects reality better. I like to think this post had something to do with it

I have not been inspired to write for a few years now, well over 3 years. The truth is, I have been very lazy to write. I am writing this because I felt a sudden inspiration to write when I looked at Offerzen's latest newsletter.

Offerzen truly is one of the coolest companies that has ever been built in this country. Maybe that is an exaggeration to some but to me it is very true. It is a company that has always felt like it was built by software developers for software developers. I have been subscribed to their newsletter for many years, it is how I discover their blog posts. I proudly wear their fantastic swag, to the annoyance of my partner. I do not always agree with what they post, of course.

However, after reading their latest newsletter, I cannot help but think they have ruined it. I promise this is not a rant just because I disagree with something they had on their newsletter. I really do believe they have ruined it because this type of content managed to get onto their blog (in 2023) and was deemed worthy of the newsletter now in 2024 without anyone inside the company raising a flag and calling this out.

You can read the blog post I am complaining about here. Go on, I will wait. When you get back I will then tell you what is wrong with it.

Now that you have read it and seen the 3 reasons. Let's go through them quickly:

To offer you a competitive compensation package

Competitive has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with what I currently earn. I could be well underpaid or even overpaid. My current payslip will not help you figure out what is competitive.

To officially verify your employment

You can get official employment verification that is NOT a payslip. This is like asking for my bank statement to verify my banking details, even though banks have official proof of account ownership documents. Just nonsense.

To build trust through transparency

I don't even know where to begin with this one. How come this transparency is always one sided? No company ever comes into these conversations opening with "we have a budget of CTC of this much, let's see if you deserve it all". No company needs my current payslip to learn my expectactions. In fact, my expactations could be very far from what my current payslip says. More nonsense.

Why cry?

Most people know why companies ask for your payslip. We have seen countless articles online about how this is done to tie you to your current pay band with a % based increase. We have seen countless articles online about how to negotiate salaries. There are plenty of people and companies that are out there helping developers get better pay. I am crying because I thought Offerzen was one of the companies that would be writing to help developers get better paid. Instead, they are now peddling nonsense that helps companies underpay people. As I was writing this I worried I may be overreacting but then I checked the comments on the blog post and there was not a single person who was not disappointed with it.

I obviously could be way off here. There could be a simple explanation of how something so terrible made it onto the blog of a company trusted by so many developers. I hope so.