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A better way to compare job offers than just salary

A better way to compare job offers than just salary

by jelmervnuss·Apr 12, 2026·2 points·4 comments
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AI Analysis

●MidSolve My Problem

Job offer calculator when spreadsheets already do this fine.

Strengths
  • •Breaks compensation into pay, time, benefits, and costs you carry.
  • •Custom line items let you add missing compensation factors.
Weaknesses
  • •Single-page calculator with no depth beyond basic arithmetic.
  • •Levels.fyi and negotiation guides already cover this territory.
Category
Finance
Target Audience

Job seekers evaluating offers

Similar To

Levels.fyi · Pave · Glassdoor

Post Description

I built a small tool to compare job offers more completely than just looking at base salary.

When I was evaluating roles, I kept running into tradeoffs that were hard to reason about. One offer might have a higher salary, another better benefits, fewer working hours, or lower commute cost. Comparing them side by side was surprisingly messy.

So this tool breaks compensation down into a few groups:

- pay (salary, bonus, equity)

- time (working hours, vacation, holidays, commute time)

- benefits paid by the employer (pension, insurance, allowances, etc)

- costs you carry yourself (commute, other job-related costs)

You can also add your own custom line items if something is missing.

https://stayorqu.it/true-compensation

It's still a simplification, but I've found it more useful than comparing salary alone.

Curious how others approach this. Do you try to quantify everything, or keep it more intuitive?

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