Nothing is carved in stone except the principle that within each group, people should be true peers. In the interest of fairness, Fog Creek's compensation policy is open, public, simple, and accountable. Many companies try to obfuscate the rules they use for determining compensation in hopes that they won't get caught paying some people too much and others too little. We feel that in the long run, this can only hurt us through negative morale, high turnover, and destructive office politics. Therefore, the policy in this document is publicly available.
People have a right to know what the levels are and what they mean.
Everybody has a right to know what their colleagues' levels are. Similarly, the rules we use to determine salaries based on levels and other factors are simply, easy to understand, and public knowledge. Yes, that means you can figure out what your coworker is making. People in public service, the army, the police, and unions can all figure out what their coworkers are making. This transparency policy is a good thing that forces Fog Creek management to keep things fair.