I've worked in several jobs where I've thought, "If I'm going to have to put up with this BS, they're going to have to pay me a lot more". And the funny thing is, often times they are willing to pay you more if you ask. So there have been times in my career where I've been miserable pretty much exactly because I decided to work in a really stressful environment while accepting a large salary.
As I get older, I'm not really that interested in putting up with the BS. So if I work in an environment without the BS, or if I have a boss who is willing to shield me from the BS, I'm very happy to pay for it.
Actually, there are tons of things I'll pay for. Remote working on a team that knows how to do it and respects remote workers? That's a big discount. A work process that allows me to work effectively in a different timezone or with flexible hours? Another discount. Guarantee that the work I'm doing will be released with a free software license? HUGE discount (really, huge). Working with interesting and talented people? Yep, discount. No inventions agreement? DISCOUNT.
You get the picture. Hell, I'll do a fair amount of work for free if you tick all the boxes. I'm nowhere near alone in this.
At what point do you discount your skills so much that you can't afford to save for kid's education, retirements savings, etc, though.
In looking at those GitLab pay scales, it's a pretty SEVERE pay cut for all but the most junior people. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with a 50% pay cut to do "something cool".
From Wikipedia: The U.S. Census Bureau reported in September 2016 that real median household income was $55,775 in 2015.
If you scroll down to education and look at the chart for education, you will see that the median household income for someone with a bachelor's degree is $68,728. With a professional degree (like a P.Eng) it's up to $100K.
Can you afford to save for your kid's education, retirement savings, etc on the median household income in the US? That depends a lot on your lifestyle. It certainly is possible.
I'm not going to tell you what's good for you. I'm just saying that there are people (myself included) who can live comfortably on less and who value things other than money when accepting a job. I was simply answering the question that was asked: How is it possible to hire quality people while paying below market rate? By making it worth the reduction in pay. Whether or not Gitlab succeeds in doing this, I have no idea.
As I get older, I'm not really that interested in putting up with the BS. So if I work in an environment without the BS, or if I have a boss who is willing to shield me from the BS, I'm very happy to pay for it.
Actually, there are tons of things I'll pay for. Remote working on a team that knows how to do it and respects remote workers? That's a big discount. A work process that allows me to work effectively in a different timezone or with flexible hours? Another discount. Guarantee that the work I'm doing will be released with a free software license? HUGE discount (really, huge). Working with interesting and talented people? Yep, discount. No inventions agreement? DISCOUNT.
You get the picture. Hell, I'll do a fair amount of work for free if you tick all the boxes. I'm nowhere near alone in this.
Edit: grammar... :-P