There are two ways to bomb the salary question. First: name a number below market and spend months regretting it. Second: drop a figure that makes the recruiter quietly close the tab. Both happen not because of greed or modesty, but because you walked in without real data. This post is about where to get that data.
Why "I Googled it" is not research
Most people do the same thing before salary talks: check one aggregator, see the median, and think they know the market. The problem is the median is a hospital average. It ignores the client country, company size, specific stack, and whether the role has equity. If you're a senior Go dev and the company is a product startup headquartered in Berlin, the national median tells you almost nothing useful.
Proper research means collecting several data points from different sources, comparing them, and arriving at a range - not a single number. One number is a guess. A justified range is a position.
Sources that actually work
1. DOU and Djinni - the baseline
DOU publishes a quarterly salary report for Ukrainian IT professionals. Djinni shows salaries directly in job listings - which is far more useful because you see real offers from real companies. You can filter by level, stack, and employment type. Spend 20 minutes scanning 15-20 similar listings. Write down the min, max, and average across those that match your profile.
2. Glassdoor and Levels.fyi - for international roles
If the role is at a foreign company, Glassdoor gives you a rough range for that country's market. But Levels.fyi is better - it has verified data per company including base, bonus, and stock. Especially useful for mid-to-large product companies. For startups the data is thinner, but still worth checking.
3. LinkedIn Salary and job postings
LinkedIn Salary Insights is available in some regions and shows medians by role. But even if it's unavailable to you, check the company's active LinkedIn listings. Some publish a salary range - especially US companies after pay transparency laws in Colorado, New York, and California took effect. If you find even one similar listing with a range, that's gold.
4. Telegram channels and communities
Ukrainian IT Telegram communities run anonymous salary polls regularly. That data is often fresher than any quarterly report. Search for channels in your specialty - frontend communities, QA chats, DevOps groups. You can also ask directly: "anyone know what company X pays?" The answer is sometimes surprisingly specific.
5. Recruiters at competing companies
This sounds a bit odd but it works. If you're being actively hunted - ask a recruiter about the range for their role. Even if you have no intention of going there, it gives you a live market reference. Two or three calls like that and you'll know the real range better than any analytics tool.
How to turn it all into one range
Once you've gathered data from several sources, you need to process it. Here's a simple logic:
- 1Write down every number you found - for similar roles, level, stack, and client region.
- 2Drop obvious outliers - one fantasy listing or one suspiciously low offer aren't representative.
- 3Define your range: the minimum you'd accept, and the maximum you see in comparable listings.
- 4Set your target number slightly above the midpoint - so there's room to negotiate downward.
- 5Prepare a short justification: "the market for this type of role is $X-Y, I'm targeting $Z given my experience."
When you name a range - start with the higher number. Not the middle, not the minimum. Recruiters typically try to settle below the first number mentioned, not above it. If you say $4000-5000, the final offer will likely land closer to $4000.
What to factor in beyond the base rate
Salary is not just the number in the offer letter. Especially if the company is foreign or a product company. Before you formulate your expectations, clarify a few things:
- Gross or net? In Ukraine it's standard to discuss net, in Europe it's gross. The difference can be significant depending on the country.
- What's the employment structure? FOP, B2B contract, gig contract, or employment? This directly affects real income and deductions.
- Is there equity or options? For startups this can be a meaningful part of compensation - or it can mean nothing.
- What bonuses exist and how are they calculated? Annual, quarterly, performance-based - conditions vary widely.
- Is there compensation for equipment, training, health insurance? Especially relevant for remote roles.
Two roles with the same base can differ by 30-40% in real income once you account for everything else. So research isn't just about the number - it's about the full package.
When the company doesn't post a range
Most Ukrainian companies still write "salary to be discussed." That's not a reason to guess. There are a few ways to learn more before the interview.
- Ask the recruiter directly on the first screening call: "Can you share a rough range for this role?" Most will. Those who refuse usually have a reason - and that's also useful information.
- Check Glassdoor reviews for the company - sometimes there's salary data from former or current employees.
- Find current or former employees on LinkedIn. They rarely share exact figures, but they can confirm whether the market range reflects reality.
- Check the company's job listings from the past year - sometimes older postings included a salary that was later removed.
If the salary question comes earlier than you expected - don't panic and don't blurt out the first number that comes to mind. Say: "I'd like to better understand the role and responsibilities before naming a specific figure. Can you share what budget range you have in mind?" This is a normal answer and most recruiters will take it fine.
How Trackr helps you prepare for the money conversation
Salary research isn't a one-time thing. It's part of preparing for each specific role. I built Trackr so you can keep separate notes per application - including the salary range, compensation details, and everything you found across sources. No separate spreadsheets, no phone notes - everything in one place alongside the rest of the process.
The AI Coach can also help you rehearse the actual conversation: how to answer "what are your salary expectations," how not to panic after you name your number, how to respond to a counter-offer. It's not a script, it's practice before the real call.
Quick recap: what to do before each interview
- 1Gather data from at least three sources - aggregators, job listings, communities, or LinkedIn.
- 2Define a range, not a single number. The floor is your real minimum, the ceiling is what you've seen on the market.
- 3Clarify the package details: gross/net, contract type, bonuses, equity.
- 4If the company doesn't post a range - ask the recruiter directly, it's completely normal.
- 5Practice your answer to the expectations question out loud. At least once. Before the call.
People rarely lose salary negotiations by asking for too much. Far more often they lose because they didn't know what to ask for. That gap is solved by a few hours of research.
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