Hi, my name is Amit and I'm a software developer from Israel.

I'm currently looking for a job as a game developer in Europe and I just received an Email from a studio in Germany (part of a big global game company) in which they asked me to perform a small programming test (24/48 hours), but they also asked me about my gross salary expectation.

I tried to do some research and it seems that software developer salaries in Israel are higher and I'm not sure what number I should give them.

Basically its more important for me to get a job in a big studio and the money issue is less important but I don't want to give them a low number either.

Does it make sense to tell them how I make here, and mention that I know that the salaries are different here and I'm willing to make less than what I do now if the number is too high?

I'm starting to research more on Germany but I don't want to keep them waiting and I want to reply as fast as I can so I can start the programming test.

What do you think would be appropriate to write back?

Thanks

Some employers ask it because they are hoping for either two things to quickly happen. They either want to prune you out, such as if you are experienced from elsewhere and demand more money than they want to pay, or they want to identify you as a lowball offer with too little funds.

It is sometimes a sign of a bad company, but also sometimes a symptom of bad or aggressive HR departments at an otherwise good company. I consider the tactic a bad warning sign, they are more interested in cost rather than quality, meaning there is a higher likelihood of treating people like cogs, to be replaced by the lowest bid. It isn't necessarily true, but it does mean you should be cautious.

I'd dodge the question for now.

One option: "It is too early to discuss salary. We both first need to decide if we are a good fit for each other, then we can talk numbers."

Another option: "Since this is an international job search, I haven't done all the number-crunching in your area. How about we first see if the job is a good fit for each other?"

Another option: "I'm looking at several nations and haven't computed your city's costs yet. How about you tell me what range you are in, so I can factor that into my local cost of living calculations?" (Note that they will give you a lower number if they give you any range at all.)

If they're looking for a deeper reason, explain that you have not even interviewed with them yet, you don't know the details about the company, you want to be sure you can do the job well before discussing any kinds of compensation.

In salary negotiations, usually the first person who mentions a number loses the negotiation, either the worker getting less than the company was willing to pay, or for the employer paying more than they had anticipated. There are many books written about salary negotiation. An employer asking early about expected wages is an oft-mentioned 'dirty trick' used by bad companies, but also sometimes used in ignorance. For best results you should wait until after they have decided they want to hire you, and you have decided you want to work with them, before you mention any numbers.

Thanks, I saw this 2 minutes after I replied them.

Basically I told them that I'm excited about the opportunity and looking forward to taking their test and I told them how much was my last salary and that I'm not sure what to expect because I haven't done the research yet and not sure about the position offered and what is common to pay there.

I also mentioned that if the number is way out of the range they usually pay in that area I can be flexible and I care more about finding the right fit professionally than getting the highest salary.

Maybe my answer wasn't the best but it was honest and I'll try to give a better one next time :)

and I care more about finding the right fit professionally than getting the highest salary.

That's the sort of statement that should NEVER be made in an interview. It can be a personal motivation during the interview and salary negotiation process, but there is zero benefit to making it a public declaration.

and I care more about finding the right fit professionally than getting the highest salary.

That's the sort of statement that should NEVER be made in an interview. It can be a personal motivation during the interview and salary negotiation process, but there is zero benefit to making it a public declaration.

ok, lesson learned :)

When I was poached to work abroad, I calculated my expectations based on what I thought was fair payment here translated into that country's worth.

Then I compared that to their CPI to insure that it was still a relevant number and adjusted accordingly.

Turns out my expectations where within 5% of what they were expecting, so this seems like a viable method. Of course, there's a lot more to it such as the actual going rate and the relative important of the field within that culture.

The problem is you can't just say the average in Gemany is figure A and that is below what I earn in Israel. The salary ranges can vary massively across whole countries so much so that the city you are applying in could be well above the average.
I'm in the UK for example and work in London and most jobs I get have a salary between £75k to £85k with contract rates at about £450 per day. In Manchester however I could only expect £30k to £45k for doing the same job.

According to develop the average UK game dev salary is £32k whilst the average software developer outside of games is £45k but, I already know that there is an almost limitless number of jobs paying double this amount in London.

Instead of looking what the average is in Germany you should look at what the average is at the actual company you are interviewing at. There must be reviews on sites like Glassdoor where previous staff have reviewed the company and detailed the salaries that they have earned.

The location within Germany is very important. The difference in salaries e. g. between Berlin and Bavaria is huge, since the costs of living (like rents) are different.
I don't know in which city the company is located, but it's very likely one of Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. You could try to find some informations about average salaries in different regions, or try to estimate what you'd need based on your future expenses (rents, public transportation, ...). If you can't find any numbers for gamedev related positions, you could still take a look at other IT jobs (but I heard many times, salaries in gamedev are lower compared to regular IT salaries).

The company is located around Frankfurt, its been almost two days since I replied and I didn't hear from them.

The company is located around Frankfurt, its been almost two days since I replied and I didn't hear from them.

That is usually a very short time in a job hunt. Sometimes companies take multiple weeks between contact.

Also, don't wait for them to call you back, statistically they won't. But if they do contact you, don't be surprised if it is two weeks, three weeks, even six weeks out.

Companies go at their own speed. Often there is a multi-week window of getting information from potential candidates then handing it all over from HR to the people on the team. They wait for a while, prune the list down to the five or so the are interested in interviewing. Then HR conctacts all those people, and interviews take place scattered over anything from a single day to multiple weeks. Then anywhere from the same day to few weeks later they make their decision and start the serious negotiation.

If you are doing a traditional resume-based job search (protip: don't do that) The vast majority of the time you contact many companies, only a small number call you back. You talk to the HR people and never hear from most again. Then you talk to the dev teams, and probably never hear back or maybe get a generic email.

If that's the process you're using, go read the book "What Color Is Your Parachute". It has been updated every year for decades, so you can usually find one from the last few years at your local libraries or used book stores.