How to evaluate and find good compensation data for iOS developers
When you're planning your next career move, you need to know your market value. You need reliable salary and compensation data. You can't trust recruiters for accurate information, because recruiters get paid to close deals. They're not going to give you ammunition to put you out of reach of their clients.
Salary websites face other challenges. First, many of them rely on self-reported data. You can't trust self-reported numbers, not because folks lie, but because the people with the highest compensation fail to report their salaries. My colleagues will complain if they see they have lower pay than someone with a similar title. When my colleagues complain, my employer will know who caused the trouble: the only person with an outlier salary.
Most salary websites also fall prey to the proliferation of iOS job titles. How do you compare an SDE III to an L4 or an MTS? It makes collection across-industry numbers challenging.
Also, note that salary websites don't necessarily have up-to-date numbers. Some users might have posted salaries yesterday. Others might take months or years to post on the site. The numbers on many sites will lag the industry compensation.
As a final note, keep in mind that there are many components which go into total compensation: