I think a lot of it is luck.
Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
21–27 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
#22There are basically only 2 ways to scale up your income beyond current market rate (nobody would pay you more if they can buy it for cheaper):
1. Obtaining a very unique yet demanded enough expertise, so that certain companies hunt for you because it is critical for the business and there is not many people in the world who can do that (for example building facebook scale datacenters from scratch, or being a creator of java).
2. Having your own business and your own customers.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
#23This is fairly straightforward imo. Most money is in big tech. Look at levels.fyi to get an idea of the roadmap. Big tech hires mostly off leetcodes. There are other factors too. Your journey begins with practicing leetcodes and reading all the books on teachyourselfcs.com Study dilligently. Watch YouTube courses too but this should be considered supplemental. Apply for big tech jobs. This will probably take several…
Okay, sounds solid but dummy question: What are my chances of doing this if I'm from Europe? Also, I don't have a full UNI degree, I dropped out after I got my Bachelors.
Getting a US visa without a degree will be extremely difficult, and so migrating may not be an option for you.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
#24Hi, The best advice I can give is do not go for the money. I fell for it, and all it gave me was unhappiness and stress. I used to earn about 11k a month doing technical work for an American big tech company. It was not worth it. I earn not even half now, but I can smile again and enjoy my life. That being said, it's really a simple equation and there's a few options. The lottery way: Try to join a promising startup,…
I disagree with your general point that more money == more stress. I switched from working for an EU company to working for a small US one (This was a combination of a few things
- The company was financially successful and this lack of financial pressure trickles down through the whole culture.
- The company was expertly managed. I believe the presence of a lot of tech companies is a great training ground for managers in the US. This made my day-to-day easier.
- The coding standards (and that of teammates) were higher and it was less frustrating to work with their codebase.
- Knowing that I was making that kind of money gave me a lot of inner calm because I knew that I would be able to build the kind of wealth that I could retire on. For example, my apartment cost $300,000 and I was getting $250,000 per year. That feels good.
- The company is always talking to me about whether I feel adequately compensated etc. and I was always made to feel I was valued and also that if the company does well, I will too (e.g. I got a random bonus of $100k for a project)
How did I find the job? Literally right here on HN in a Who's Hiring post.
FWIW I am more senior than OP (15 years' engineering experience)
Re: Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
#25I think a lot of it is luck.
I usually take (half seriously) Machiavelli's view: luck does play a role, but it's not the biggest factor and the rest is up to you.
So, focus on what you can control, and luck should impact the result less.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
#26In addition to all the good technical advice here, I would recommend paying attention to soft skills like written communication, presenting, persuading, reading comprehension, listening, being organised, setting priorities, etc.
They will open up doors that you may not value now but perhaps might later. And they are the kind of skills you build just by paying attention to them every day.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to optimize career for money in IT?
#27Hi, The best advice I can give is do not go for the money. I fell for it, and all it gave me was unhappiness and stress. I used to earn about 11k a month doing technical work for an American big tech company. It was not worth it. I earn not even half now, but I can smile again and enjoy my life. That being said, it's really a simple equation and there's a few options. The lottery way: Try to join a promising startup,…
I disagree with your general point that more money == more stress. I switched from working for an EU company to working for a small US one ( This was a combination of a few things - The company was financially successful and this lack of financial pressure trickles down through the whole culture. - The company was expertly managed. I believe the presence of a lot of tech companies is a great training ground for manag…
Not a right or wrong answer here either. Have had 215k+ tech jobs since I was 24 and now 30 making 300k.
I’ve learned it’s now so much the amount you get, but the company culture.
To answer question to OP more directly. Save and invest intelligently and don’t spend what you can’t afford. Been fairly frugal and sitting over 1 mil. My dad had a boring desk job and just retired with same philosophy and currently sitting at 10 mil networth.
He drove a truck for 20 years that he sold for 500 bucks and a crappy car he drove for another 15 years that he sold for 1k.
Not saying you need to enter the extreme to have happiness, but financial growth is like a snowball. Slow and steady