How Remote Work Is Changing Tech Salaries In The Era Of Coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic caused us to trade corner offices and cubicles for bedroom offices or repurposed kitchen tables. Remote work is gaining traction among employees and employers. Remote work is both different and the same as work pre-Covid-19. The work we are doing hasn't changed, but our methods of communication and meeting have.

Due to the success of remote work, some employees are considering leaving their current cities searching for locations with lower costs of living or are going back to their hometown. Companies are struggling with how to approach pay for remote working situations. Facebook has said it will switch to location-based pay while others haven't been transparent or haven't decided how to proceed.

Major tech hubs boast some of the highest salaries in the country. The three counties with the highest wages were the bordering counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco. These Silicon Valley counties are followed by the counties containing New York City and Boston, which are also hubs for tech jobs. Before the pandemic, tech companies were scrambling to hire the right talent, which drove salaries up, but the pandemic caused massive job loss and major stock sell-offs.

Companies quickly adopted remote work as a productive approach to getting work done. Twitter, Square, and Facebook were quick to announce permanent work from home for employees who wished to remain home. Facebook will require employees who move away from the Bay Area to report where they live to have their salary adjusted for the cost of living in their new location. It will be trickier to predict tech salaries between the volatile economy and the switch to remote work.

Tech Salaries Will Still Be Higher Than Average

The tech industry is surviving the downturn of the economy better than most industries. The S&P 500 recently hit a record high with tech companies' help in Q2 and Q3. Even if companies don't offer the same salaries as before the pandemic, tech firms have a history of paying well. Their recent success beating sell-offs in March and continuing to make profits will continue to keep salaries above non-tech jobs.

For those concerned about entry-level jobs, tech jobs are still in demand and will continue to be as tech companies, and other retailers, see rises in e-commerce. Salaries may not be as competitive as they were before Covid-19, but they are likely to be above the average for the country. If you have been curious about learning to code, it will still be worth your efforts to attend a coding bootcamp, such as Thinkful, or pursue a degree in computer science. Tech companies are hiring back workers faster than non-tech firms and still show the promise of growth.

Tech Jobs Won’t Go Away

Companies in any given industry are looking for tech workers and ways to implement the newest technologies into their products. Professionals with computer science backgrounds will implement the ideas of entrepreneurs and business people. From lawn care to personal products, companies are looking to disrupt industries through technological innovations. Companies are using tech to approach sales in different ways. The wellness drink company Dirty Lemon is exclusively sold through text messages. Companies are using tech to reach customers in different ways.

Clothing companies and grocery stores use data science to track consumer spending and the products they buy. Companies apply their earnings through sales or product placement once they know a customer who purchases X also buys Y. Data is precious to companies, especially as consumers are more conscious of spending during lean economic times. Data scientists are responsible for running algorithms and collecting appropriate data to improve sales or increase efficiency. You can become a data scientist with no degree.

Remote Work And Salary

While Facebook has said they will equate employees' salaries with the cost of living in their location, remote work doesn't mean you won't live a commutable distance from your office. Surveys of recent remote employees have shown that while they enjoy working remotely, they expect to go into the office about once a week. Even though there has been a large exodus from Silicon Valley to cheaper parts of the country, not everyone sees remote work as working thousands of miles away from the office. Those who work remotely but stay in the same area won't see a change in their salaries, even if most work is done remotely.