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[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...
No, Most software developers in US don't make anywhere close to over $100k a year. I reckon half probably make around $40-$60k a year.
[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...
In Zurich, Geneva, Oslo and Rejkavik, you can also get a job that pays that much at a software/financial company/startup (and healthcare it's much cheaper/included in taxes). In the US, that kind of salary it's common only in the Silicon Valley and NY.
> In the US, that kind of salary it's common only in the Silicon Valley and NY. I don't agree with that statement. The title relates to six figure incomes, which are certainly quite common in all the tech hubs: Seattle, Austin, Denver, San Diego, etc. You certainly have to be in a major city, and ideally one with large software companies.
There’s tons of money in engineering in the United States, but I would say it has come with a cost. The only reason so much money has been able to be plowed into software and hardware was because of financial products developed by Wall Street since the 1970’s. Obviously we’ve seen great results in software and hardware, but all the recent financial busts have shown there is no free lunch...
Using older terms: IT doesn't pay, SWE does.
I have also done some math to compare US and Europe pay, and if you max out at $150K, which seems a lot by European standards, you actually are very similar to European compensation. Why? College for your average two kids, plus retirement. In Europe, it's included. In the US, you save for it from your high salary.
The median pay for software developers in 2017 was $103,560 based on government collected data[1]. So it's safe to say that a bit more than half of software developers in the US make $100,000 or more. [1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...
Also worth noting when looking at the data is what the BLS considers to be a "software engineer", what the industry breakdowns are, and where they are located.
[0] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/... [1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/... [2] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...
In Zurich, Geneva, Oslo and Rejkavik, you can also get a job that pays that much at a software/financial company/startup (and healthcare it's much cheaper/included in taxes). In the US, that kind of salary it's common only in the Silicon Valley and NY.
How hard is it to do this if I only speak English? I have family in Norway and attended part of a Master's program in Switzerland, but left because the job prospects in Zurich did not look good without German fluency. This was not in technology, though.
Location is a huge variable. The cost of living is what you’d be looking for. In the US alone a same software engineer would make $200k in SF versus $100k in a lot of other cities within the same state (California). Of course, anyone living in another state would have a complete different salary and set of rules. Now, connect the ocean in between the US and Europe and it makes it even harder to relate to your $100k/y…
A rough rule of thumb is that if you are making $50,000 per year gross salary in the USA, you'll be taking home roughly $3000 per month in net pay.
This number changes a bit if you are married, have kids, have an expensive house, and so on.
If you are making $100,000 gross per year, especially in NY or San Fran, you realistically might have a take home net monthly pay of $5700 or even a bit less as a non-married human.
Realistically, mandatory expenses like rent and commuting (unless you are sleeping under your desk in the office!!!) will be about $1,000 to $3,000 per month, most people around $2,000 in those cities.
And yeah, lifestyle creep is totally a thing in the USA. There are people making $5700 a month who are spending $5700 per month, certainly.
Also, minimum wage is $1600 per month full time post tax at places like burger king and mcdonalds.