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Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

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Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#51

Post by IaacForHire »

yrgulation wrote: post #42
bradleyjg wrote: post #37

Tech, like law, is a bimodal market. If you think of it as a single bell curve your intuitions will be all wrong. The good news is that unlike law it’s possible to jump into the better paying market even if you didn’t go to the “right” school.

Thats odd. I know loads of lawyers living in mansions while loads of “highly paid” developers live with housemates, or rent tiny homes. If anything, software development pay has reached construction worker pay. At least we dont have to sit out in the cold.

I have a cousin who makes $220k as a crane operator at a port. I'll never make that much in my career.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#52

Post by cube2222 »

hardware2win wrote: post #33

It feels like salaries in Poland went up Now 7x minimal wage after tax is not as impressive as 5-8 years ago

They skyrocketed when remote work became ubiquitous.

Which means you can get Western European (occasionally even American, with a few companies) salaries, while enjoying the low taxation of sole proprietorships in Poland (8-20% depending on how you set yourself up legally) and low costs of living.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#53

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

bradleyjg wrote: post #37

Tech, like law, is a bimodal market. If you think of it as a single bell curve your intuitions will be all wrong. The good news is that unlike law it’s possible to jump into the better paying market even if you didn’t go to the “right” school.

I would add finance to the bimodal markets - also like law in that you are locked out unless you did basically everything right from birth.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#54

Post by marcinzm »

bradleyjg wrote: post #37

Tech, like law, is a bimodal market. If you think of it as a single bell curve your intuitions will be all wrong. The good news is that unlike law it’s possible to jump into the better paying market even if you didn’t go to the “right” school.

In my experience it's almost tri-modal even without location being taken into account. Non-tech will pay low rates like the OP is seeing. Startups that care about talent will pay 10-50% more without counting equity. Large tech and late stage startups will pay 50-400% more if you count the RSUs (liquid for large tech).

The issue right now is that many companies are having hiring slowdowns and the VC market is cold so there's less jobs in the second two categories.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#55

Post by jmconfuzeus »

It could be because of remote work.

Why should a company pay you $250k+ when they can hire someone from Philippines for $25k (10x less money) or less?

I'm not saying this is a good thing but simply the reality. I've applied to a few remote positions recently and have been offered peanuts for salary because of my 3rd world country citizenship. And as far as I know, my work is indistinguishable from that of silicon valley engineers.

Companies like Turing are advertising to engineers living in 3rd world countries because their clients want top talent for less money.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#56

Post by yrgulation »

IaacForHire wrote: post #27
oxff wrote: post #7

In Europe they've probably gone down the past decade I'd say.

Oof, European salaries are absurdly low. When I first left the USA I was thinking "OK I'll get a nice job in Amsterdam or Denmark" .. Then I saw the cost of living and the low salaries, and waved away that dream.

Try east europe, pays better and lower taxes. Standard of living is improving and accommodation is way better. You have room for growth as well. At least that’s what i see among software engs in Romania. Net pay is lower but take home is better. Heard poland and bulgaria arent far off. Ukraine was also good before the war.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#57

Post by marcinzm »

yrgulation wrote: post #42
bradleyjg wrote: post #37

Tech, like law, is a bimodal market. If you think of it as a single bell curve your intuitions will be all wrong. The good news is that unlike law it’s possible to jump into the better paying market even if you didn’t go to the “right” school.

Thats odd. I know loads of lawyers living in mansions while loads of “highly paid” developers live with housemates, or rent tiny homes. If anything, software development pay has reached construction worker pay. At least we dont have to sit out in the cold.

Highly paid as a developer means you're making $400k+ with less than 10 years under your belt. Those people don't generally live with roommates unless they're aiming for aggressive FIRE.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#58

Post by 2rsf »

oxff wrote: post #45
finikytou wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in pure Euro no they went up a bit but definitly lower than the cost of living increase. the problem is that in the past decade Europe welcomed Cyprus, Czech Republic,Estonia,Hungary,Latvia, Lithuania,Malta , Poland ,Slovakia,Slovenia,Bulgaria ,Romania, Croatia. Most of those countries were below living standards/salaries of western europe while having for some of them a very strong education system. Romania for inst…

Yeah I was taking into account cost of living increases and inflation when I wrote it, it's quite grim to live in Western Europe on regular dev salary :D

> it's quite grim to live in Western Europe on regular dev salary

No it's not. We still earn above average and (very) generally life in Europe are not grim.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#59

Post by yrgulation »

finikytou wrote: post #15
oxff wrote: post #7

In Europe they've probably gone down the past decade I'd say.

in pure Euro no they went up a bit but definitly lower than the cost of living increase. the problem is that in the past decade Europe welcomed Cyprus, Czech Republic,Estonia,Hungary,Latvia, Lithuania,Malta , Poland ,Slovakia,Slovenia,Bulgaria ,Romania, Croatia. Most of those countries were below living standards/salaries of western europe while having for some of them a very strong education system. Romania for inst…

Have you considered moving to those countries for better pay? It sad to hear pay is so bad in germany, probably getting quality education in romania or turkey might help? At the end of the day you are also free to move in to any of these countries.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#60

Post by yrgulation »

IaacForHire wrote: post #51
yrgulation wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats odd. I know loads of lawyers living in mansions while loads of “highly paid” developers live with housemates, or rent tiny homes. If anything, software development pay has reached construction worker pay. At least we dont have to sit out in the cold.

I have a cousin who makes $220k as a crane operator at a port. I'll never make that much in my career.

A welder in london charges 700£ plus per day. A bit difficult to reach as a software engineer.
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