Best way to make money in tech is to go your own way or leave tech all together. I know being able to afford rent and a new iphone every couple of months sound tempting but what one needs is plenty of money to own a home and start a family. Those are things that only the rich afford these days - a rare sight among tech workers.
Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
31–40 of 91 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#32Kubernetes. It's early enough, so you'll be among first adopters. It's mature enough to not go anywhere in the next 30 years. It's important enough to be adopted by anyone in the next 10 years.
Kubernetes and react can’t go on their merry way soon enough.
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#33If the ultimate goal is increasing your discretionary income, you can also approach the problem by lowering your rent and living expenses. (Same work, different location.) Maybe even think about working in a country where the currency exchange works in your favor.
And since you have 10 years, you might also want to invest that discretionary income. (A well-diverisified portfolio is pretty low-risk. And with interest rates as high as they are, you can also get some guaranteed/fixed-rate returns that are pretty high.)
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#34I know this question is situated around the tech, but the real answer is to leave every couple of years. There is always more money to be made, and the more experience you have the easier it is to get it. I'm not saying this is what somebody should do, but if you're only indexing for income, then it's the only answer IMO.
Can't upvote this enough (or indeed more than once) but yes, this is the way to do it. Don't stay anywhere more than 2 years until you're more than comfortable with your income and/or taking a role where it's beneficial to stick around for longer.
Companies don't expect people at the beginning of their careers to stick around for long.
The other benefit is that you get to experience a broader range of environments and technologies, which is good for everyone.
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the best advice.
It's totally inactionable though. "Build interesting things", "meet great people". It sounds nice but it's completely hollow. Not to mention "what looks good on a CV" is actually a really important thing to consider.
"Build interesting things" is pretty actionable, it just requires opening your code editor and building stuff that interests you. There's a good chance that your interests will overlap with other people's interets and that you'll end up having built something interesting.
"Meet great people" isn't crazy hard either, literally just talk to people, and keep talking to the one you find great. If you have trouble talking to people, I recommend Dale Carnegie's book (How to win friends or something).
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#36I know this question is situated around the tech, but the real answer is to leave every couple of years. There is always more money to be made, and the more experience you have the easier it is to get it. I'm not saying this is what somebody should do, but if you're only indexing for income, then it's the only answer IMO.
To a point. People who move around too much will not get the job if there's a comparable candidate that has stayed around longer at previous jobs.
I’ve been on interviewing panels before. It is extremely rare to have two “comparable” candidates for any one position. Everyone has different pros and cons. Tenure at past positions was always very low on the list of qualifiers we evaluated.
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#37Realize that answers from those who have been in your position years ago are answers fitting to a low interest rate landscape. The rule book has changed and so will the industries that are at the top.
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#381/ get better at developing stuff
2/ interview a lot, move jobs when you see something better
3/ assume the expected return on stock options is zero
Stock in public companies (might be called RSUs) is pretty close to income. Even gets taxed like income. Stock in private companies is not like that. You can't sell it without the company agreeing, at which point the company sets the price as they see fit.
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#39Learn Java or C++, get good at leetcode, and work in finance. You don't need to be a good engineer – these places are messes of legacy code created in fiefdoms run by people who care more about money than the engineering. You'll make a ton of money and feel poor because the quants will make far more than you ever will. In my opinion this is a truly terrible path to choose, but you will earn more than anyone in tech w…
I am a junior that does C++ currently for HFT. Lots of legacy code, although I don’t think the code is that terrible (although I am a junior so maybe I can’t tell).
Any reason why it’s a terrible path to choose? Am I stunting my growth? I was hoping HFT would help leverage me into a big tech company for systems level stuff since (at least I was told this as a selling point to get me to join) its tougher here so FAANG likes to see HFT experience. Is that not the case?
Re: Ask HN: How can a junior dev maximize their income?
#40I know this question is situated around the tech, but the real answer is to leave every couple of years. There is always more money to be made, and the more experience you have the easier it is to get it. I'm not saying this is what somebody should do, but if you're only indexing for income, then it's the only answer IMO.
To a point. People who move around too much will not get the job if there's a comparable candidate that has stayed around longer at previous jobs.
Not necessarily, not when I hire. On-boarding, and ramping up in a new environment is a skill and to some extent, I see that as a value add. A person who has gotten comfortable in a role for 10 years is often slower to ramp vs. a person that has seen a lot of environments and projects.